Vicente Boluda, the largest shipowner in Spain and the country’s 35th fortune, according to Forbes, assures that the case for which he is being sued for false accusation is, in reality, “an unacceptable attempt at economic extortion” by José Antonio Morillo -Velarde del Peso, the State lawyer who, in his private capacity, has filed a complaint against him. This is stated in the defense documents. Sources close to the company assure that Morillo’s lawyer asked for 600,000 euros to avoid filing the complaint, something that he refutes: “I have not asked for 600,000 euros. “I am asking for 25,000 euros for moral damages and it is in the indictment.”
The situation between the largest shipping company in Spain and the director of the Puertos del Estado legal office, lawyer José Antonio Morillo-Velarde del Peso, could not be more tense. In 2020, a Boluda company, Repabar, filed a complaint against the former Ports leadership for, it said, favoring another tugboat company in Las Palmas. The complaint was also directed against the State lawyer who heads the legal department, not as an official but in special services, José Antonio Morillo-Velarde del Peso. Although it was admitted for processing, it was not successful and was archived less than a year later.
Up to this point, this is the normal path followed by cases against senior officials of the Administration – RIU, for example, filed a complaint against the management of Costas for a concession of a hotel in the public maritime-terrestrial domain and, as in this case, it was filed.
But after that, Morillo began a counterattack. According to him, at first he wanted to apologize and met with Boluda after mediation by senior Ports officials. According to other sources, his lawyer asked the shipping company for financial compensation of 600,000 euros to put the matter behind him. He admits that there were contacts between the lawyers, but denies that this was his claim: “I have never asked for 600,000 euros.”
Later, Morillo filed a complaint for false accusation against Boluda, former president of Real Madrid and president of the Valencian businessmen. Against all odds, because a false complaint in a case that has been admitted for processing is difficult to succeed, a judge from Las Palmas has seen signs of a crime and terminated the investigation, the previous step to placing him on the bench. The prosecution supports the businessman and requests a dismissal. The defense hopes to lift the judge’s order in the Provincial Court.
Boluda’s defense, which last week did not want to comment on the news, has presented harsh defense briefs against Morillo. He maintains that Boluda, as president of the company, did not make the personal decision of the lawsuit and that that alone would be enough to free him. But he adds an accusation: “What has existed and exists, said with due respect and in strict terms of defense, is an inadmissible attempt at economic extortion by Mr. Morillo-Velarde with the filing of his complaint, seeking revenge and money.”
In fact, when, on November 8, 2023, Boluda testified in court during the investigation, he already pointed in that direction. When asked if he understood that Morillo was against him personally and not against the Repavar company, he replied: “Well, I suppose he wants two things: revenge and money.”
Morillo refers to his indictment, presented on November 12, in which the official claim falls far short of those 600,000 euros. There he claims “25,000 euros, as a consequence of the moral damages suffered” and justifies that he is “a State Lawyer with a long and impeccable professional career (42 years of practice) precisely in the area and place where the events occurred. , which is a small judicial district, as well as the publicity and media impact they had in the specialized press, the seriousness of the crimes charged and the benefit that the accused would have obtained if his allegedly criminal action was successful.
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