Francisco Camps, former Valencian president, puffed out his chest after his latest acquittal in the “Gürtel case”, claiming his mandate at the head of the Regional Executive and demanding his return to the political front line of the PP. However, the governments of Camps, president of the Generalitat Valenciana between 2003 and 2011, found themselves mired in various legal cases and several of his advisors were sentenced to prison for corruption crimes. Serafín Castellano was the last to accept a sentence of two years and seven months in prison for the crimes of falsification of a public document, corruption, prevarication, embezzlement and illicit association in the trial before the National Court of the ‘fire poster’ case. Castellano, after reaching an agreement with the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office, admitted the facts he was accused of and assumed compensation of 900,000 euros, to be paid to the Generalitat Valenciana in solidarity with a businessman. He is the fourth former Camps councilor to be found guilty of corruption.
In the first trial of the “Gürtel case”, related to the trial in which Camps was acquitted by a popular jury, Víctor Campos, former Valencian vice-president, was sentenced to a fine of 9,600 euros for the crime of undue passive corruption. He was the first member of a government presided over by Francisco Camps to be convicted in a case of corruption crimes.
In addition, Milagrosa Martínez, former Minister of Tourism and former President of the Valencian Courts, was sentenced by the High Court of Justice to nine years in prison for the crimes of administrative malfeasance, embezzlement of public funds, influence peddling and passive corruption, in the separate room of the “Gürtel case” at the Fitur hall. The following year, the Supreme Court confirmed the sentence. Martínez spent four and a half years in the Villena prison (Alicante). The Valencian Parliament removed a painting and a plaque in honor of Milagrosa Martínez after she entered prison.
On the other hand, Rafael Blasco, minister in charge of three portfolios of the Executive of Camps, was convicted in several separate parts of the case related to the embezzlement of public funds from the Valencian Cooperation. In 2015, the Supreme Court sentenced him to six and a half years in prison for the crime of embezzlement. On June 15 of the same year, Blasco entered the Picassent prison (Valencia), from where he left with the third degree almost four years later.
In 2021, Rafael Blasco was again sentenced by the Provincial Court of Valencia, in another separate case, to eight years in prison for the crime of prevarication in media competition with fraud against the administration.
Serafín Castellano was the last of the Camps councilors to remain awaiting trial. After an agreement with the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office, which had initially asked him for 21 years in prison in the “fire cartel” trial, Castellano admitted the facts and obtained a sentence that did not involve his entry into prison. This ends a long judicial hangover that irreparably tarnishes the political legacy of Francisco Camps, transformed into a toxic asset for Carlos Mazón’s Valencian PP.
