“He asked me for favors, it seemed normal to me and I did them for him. If that is being a front man, yes, I have been Eduardo Zaplana's front man.” With these words, Joaquín Barceló, a childhood friend of the former president of the Generalitat Valenciana and former minister Eduardo Zaplana, has pointed out the PP leader as the true owner of at least seven million euros of which he appeared as the owner. Just over two million were made available in the name of the company Imison International, based in Luxembourg. Another five were deposited into an account in Andorra. “I have never ever had money abroad,” Zaplana stated just 24 hours before.
The testimony of the declared front man has dismantled the story maintained by the former minister himself, who said that he knew of his friend's “business” but only because of the friendship that united them. In addition, he argued that the documents that were seized from him about the companies that, supposedly, are part of the plot to collect bribes, were in his hands because Barceló asked him for advice. However, he has insisted that Eduardo Zaplana asked him to take charge of both money and companies abroad, both directly and through his advisor, Francisco Grau: “I have always done what Grau has told me without question.” , he assured.
As he explained this Wednesday, Zaplana asked him to take charge of 2.1 million euros which, he told him, were of “transparent and lawful” origin. He asked him to be the owner of the Luxembourg company Imision, in which he could not appear “because he was in politics.” To purchase that company, the declared front man of the former minister traveled to Luxembourg on a private plane with the brothers José and Vicente Cotino, from the Sedesa group, winners of part of the wind energy parks and the vehicle technical inspection stations ( ITV) processed by the Valencian Government during the Zaplana presidency and for which the former leader of the PP obtained, according to Anticorruption, more than 20 million euros. “I have never had money in Luxembourg, it was not mine,” he insisted. According to the accusation, Imison International was one of the companies through which the bribes for these concessions were made effective.
In the case of the money deposited in an account in Andorra, the declared front man has explained that the account was his and that it was Eduardo Zaplana's advisor, Francisco Grau, who told him that the former minister's money was going to be deposited into it. “He told me that it was untaxed money but that it came from the businesses of Zaplana's relatives,” he assured, while explaining that he raised the possibility of opening a second account to distinguish his money from that of the former minister, something that It was never done. “I don't know how the money entered Andorra, I told them that they opened a different account but, without my permission, they transferred those millions to my account that they later transferred,” he said. Furthermore, he has indicated that some of the documents appearing in the summary, seized during the investigation, have signatures in his name that are forged.
Joaquín Barceló is one of more than a dozen defendants in the trial of the so-called Erial case, for the alleged plot designed to collect illegal commissions. Zaplana faces a request for 19 years in prison for the alleged crimes of prevarication, falsehood, bribery and money laundering. For Barceló, Anticorruption demanded eight years in prison for the alleged crimes of belonging to a criminal group and money laundering. However, the fact revealed this Wednesday of collaborating with justice may lead to a reduction in the prison request.
[Noticia de última hora. Habrá ampliación en breve]
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