“I appeal to Justice so that a false story is not accepted. The accusations I face are ridiculous. My management is impeccable. I was not in Foro Asturias to take advantage of anything, but to serve Asturias. “It’s the saddest thing that could have happened to me in my life.” Francisco Álvarez-Cascos, 77, has thus vehemently defended his innocence and has denied that he diverted funds from the Foro Asturias Ciudadanos (FAC) party for personal expenses for which he faces a request for three and a half years in prison for a continuing crime. of misappropriation.
After three consecutive suspensions, due to the illness of a magistrate and coincidences in the lawyers’ statements, finally this Tuesday Francisco Álvarez-Cascos, former vice president of the Government during the period of José María Aznar, appeared before the Provincial Court of Asturias accused of having charged to the Foro Asturias party various personal expenses during the period between 2011 and 2017.
The Prosecutor’s Office quantifies the economic damage caused to the party at 181,648 euros, while the lawyer Luis Llanes, who is prosecuting the private prosecution on behalf of Foro Asturias, raises the amount to 219,000 euros. The defense lawyer, Luis Tuero, denies all accusations.
The complaint and the expenses
The complaint was formalized in June 2020, after the internal audit commissioned by the current mayor of GIjón, Carmen Moriyón, when she became president of the party in which unauthorized personal expenses surfaced.
The accusations accuse the former Minister of Development, among other expenses, of an invoice for services provided by a solicitor in a judicial process prior to the existence of the party, stays in hotels, lunches and dinners in restaurants, food delivery tickets, a video game , AVE tickets, tickets for the Davis Cup and domestic items such as a full bed, a carpet, upholstery and curtains.
The ‘offer’
At around 10:30 in the morning, Álvarez-Cascos was giving a statement before the court. From the outset, he has rejected that the party’s initials respond to the acronym of his own initials, because he “did not design them, but someone else in Madrid”, which, in his opinion, is one more of the “many lies that are told ”.
When asked by the prosecutor, he said that he accepted “normally” the offer made to him by a “very large” group that was promoting a movement called “We ask for the floor” among which there were former PP militants where he highlighted the names of Pelayo Roces or Isidro Martínez Oblanca, more loyal to him, – who are cited as witnesses – to found a new party.
He has explained that he decided to accept their “offer” because the only rules he has known in his life have been the law on political parties and the law of the Court of Accounts, which is “responsible for the supervision of the accounts of the parties,” he clarified.
“Everything was done legally”
The proposal, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, entailed remuneration in exchange for exclusive dedication; facilities for maintaining their residence in Madrid and for exercising visitation with their children, which included accommodation in Asturias, travel with or without a driver and expenses inherent to travel.
“I did not take care of the expenses of Foro Asturias, we hired people that I did not know to do the accounting. I never had any worries about the bills because everything was done legally. I believe in justice. “I appeal to justice so that a false story is not told,” he added.
“I never got paid for vacations”
At all times, the former Minister of Development has maintained that one of the conditions he imposed was that he could maintain the same level of income and even later in 2015 he himself lowered his salary.
“Why did I come to Asturias?” he questioned the prosecutor. And he himself responded that it was because when they made him the offer he projected “an image of prestige” and that allowed them to win 180,000 votes. He stressed that they guaranteed him that he would maintain the same salary as in Madrid and the public image in politics was very important and that forced him to be present in the places that the party needed.
“I never charged for vacations or overtime,” he has repeated on several occasions, and he has regretted finding himself in the dock accused of a continuous crime of misappropriation when he never took advantage of “anything” and always acted “honestly.”
He commented that there were “honest and professional” people in the Forum and he has identified the person who carried out the audit, accounts and budgets.
He has reaffirmed that there were never expenses in ‘B’ and that there were controls and everything was audited.
“This is the truth, not the false story that suits some now because they do not have votes,” he stressed.
Business trips and “not for pleasure”
All his explanations have followed the same argument that everything he did for Foro Asturias was selfless.
“I accepted a responsibility, but I also had three children that I had to take care of. It included my children’s meals, not just mine – he stated – because I considered that Forum should cover my expenses when I was with my family, because I never had vacations. “I was always working,” he stated.
He has insisted that he was always working for the party, but since he did not have vacations, as he has recalled several times, on some trips he was accompanied by his children because he needed to “dedicate time to them.”
Álvarez-Cascos has also justified the trips he made to La Coruña for work reasons, to which he went accompanied “probably by my wife or one of my small children,” he assured, although he went on to point out that “it was not a trip for pleasure”.
“It seems ridiculous to explain 77 euros”
At times he has even raised his voice when asked about a 77 euro bill: “Really? “It seems ridiculous to me to have to explain a ticket of 77 euros,” he responded angrily.
The same thing happened when he was reminded that among other bills there was also one for the purchase of a video game for a son. In this specific case, he has attributed it to a possible “error”, since he also does not see the point in buying one alone when he has three children or when the prosecutor was talking to him about some expense on pizzas; accusations that he once again described as “ridiculous.”
Expenses in the name of his ex-wife and children
The prosecutor has detailed each expense and has highlighted that some of them were in the name of his ex-wife, María Porto.
When questioned, the former vice president responded that he never picked up a phone to make reservations and it could have been her or one of her children who called about a purchase.
He has admitted that he attended with his children to watch the Davis Cup, but he has argued that the only reason he went was because it was for work reasons.
“Other people from the Forum also attended, not just me. I didn’t go for leisure. “Foro supported the Oviedo headquarters of the Davis Cup and that is why I consider that they should have paid for those tickets for me and my children,” he noted.
Rentals in Madrid
The prosecutor has also asked him about the rental of a property located on Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid and he has answered that it was the party office in Madrid, which both he and María Porto had selflessly offered as the headquarters of the Forum. However, he clarified that “Foro Asturias did not have staff there.”
In the provisional qualification document, the Prosecutor’s Office maintains that Álvarez-Cascos de facto managed a company established by his wife that he used to formalize in September 2012, “in secret from the Board of Directors of his party”, a fictitious lease contract for an office in a property he owns located on Madrid’s Paseo de la Castellana for 2,404 euros per month, plus 225 for a parking space.
Four months later, he allegedly repeated the operation with another office and two parking spaces for more than 4,000 euros per month, a contract that was in force until the end of 2014.
“I had no financial responsibilities”
When asked by the private prosecution about some details of the invoices sent to the party, he has evaded any type of responsibility.
“I had no financial responsibilities, it was not my role. To perform these functions, a professional figure was created with Rosario Cabal at the helm. There was no treasurer at the beginning, it was a matter of trust, because the word in politics is what matters most.”
The defense denounces the theft of documentation
In the processing of preliminary issues, the defense has provided as evidence a complaint of the theft of documentation presented by María Porto and which has served as the basis for the accusations.
Luis Tuero has also stressed that in this procedure the right to honor and privacy of Álvarez-Cascos has been violated through “totally false” journalistic information, as well as the violation of his right to a process with all the guarantees which, under his prism, he was placed in a helpless situation.
He has also harshly criticized the private prosecution’s lawyer, Luis Llanes, for having previously defended the former vice president in another lawsuit, and has suggested that he could have known details that he could now use against him, which would imply an alleged violation of secrecy. professional.
Some allusions that have obtained the immediate response of the lawyer Llanes, who, clearly upset, has categorically confirmed that there was “zero documentation” that could be used in the trial and has highlighted that he did not receive any complaint or complaint to the College. of Lawyers because it did not violate professional secrecy.
Six trial sessions
The exhaustive interrogation to which the Prosecutor’s Office has subjected Francisco Álvarez-Cascos, lasting almost three hours, has barely given the private prosecution time to ask more than a few questions, depending on the time scheduled for today’s session.
This circumstance has led the president of the court of the Third Section, magistrate Javier Domínguez Begega, to close this morning’s session and postpone the continuation of his statement until next Thursday, the 9th, at 9 in the morning, where the private prosecution will be able to finish its interrogation and then, Álvarez-Cascos will be able to answer the questions of his defense attorney.
The trial is scheduled to be held over six sessions this month. In addition to today’s day, the days 9,16, 21, 24 and 29 are marked.
More than fifty people have been proposed as witnesses for the accusations and the defense, among others, in addition to the president of the Forum, Carmen Moriyón, Álvarez-Cascos’ ex-wife, María Porto, Pelayo Roces and others will appear at the oral hearing. Isidro Martínez Oblanca; and several videoconferences will be established from Galicia, Logroño and Madrid, for expert evidence.
The next day, the 29th, is scheduled for the presentation of the final conclusion reports of the parties.
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