Eduardo Zaplana denied all accusations this morning before the court trying the Erial case. In response to questions from the prosecutor, which has not yet been finalized, he has denied having given orders or knowing how the ITV and wind farm concessions were made, from which he allegedly collected bribes, having had money outside of Spain, having brokered operations in instrumental companies or knowing or participating in the companies of other defendants. He has even denied that he had email during the period investigated or that he had "placed" people in the Mediterranean Savings Bank, CAM. "My situation is unfortunate," he even told the court.
The former Valencian president and former minister faces 19 years in prison for having collected bribes for 20 million euros. But in his statement today he focused on defending himself as a man who had good friends and excellent relationships, but who never participated in the events that led him to be tried in the Erial case for the crimes of criminal organization, money laundering, bribery, prevarication and documentary falsification. In fact, he has denied knowing what the companies of his friend Joaquín Barceló or the moneymaker Fernando Belhot were like through which the arrival in Spain of the bribes that he would have received were allegedly channeled.
Part of the prosecutor's questions have been aimed at knowing if he knew the situation of a company owned by his friend Barceló in Andorra. The public ministry has asked him again if he had money outside of Spain: "I have never had money outside of Spain and I keep it." And he has responded that he knew that his friend Barceló had difficulties with a company in Andorra but that he did not know about the company and that he never knew anything about the companies of the people under investigation. He has even criticized the prosecutor that "we have been here for two hours and we only talk about Barceló, and Belhot. Here we are not talking about my checking accounts, nor my investments, nor my companies because there is nothing." He added, addressing the prosecutor, that "my friendship is one thing; am I a friend of theirs? Yes; do I have anything to do with their businesses or companies? No."
The prosecutor has been interested in the concession of the ITV and the wind farms in 1997, operations in which he allegedly collected bribes of 20 million euros. In this regard, he has asked him if he interceded in the concessions that favored Juan Cotino's company, and he has denied it. He stated that everything was done through a hiring table "and with protocols." The person presiding over the table was Juan Francisco García, chief of staff and one of the accused. But Zaplana has gone so far as to say that "I don't even know if Juan Francisco García knew how it was decided." He has acknowledged knowing the company Sedesa, from the Cotino family "as everyone knew."
During most of the interrogation, Zaplana has presented himself as an intermediary for his friends before large companies or fund managers. "Of these efforts, Mr. Prosecutor, I have made thousands throughout my life," he assured. He has sometimes presented himself as a victim of the investigation, questioning the construction of the prosecutor's accusation from beginning to end. He has also flatly denied any relationship with the documents that were seized in his office, in which the names of several of these companies appear. "I have neither seen them nor is it possible that they have ever been in my possession," he assured.
(((There will be an extension)))
