The paths of the Provincial Court of Alicante are inscrutable. The last sentence in the Brugal macro-case, which acquitted the 13 defendants for allegedly having rigged the garbage contract of the Vega Baja Zonal Plan, shows that there are decisions of the Alicante courts that, in similar cases, apply different scales, according to the section that dictates the sentence. The third section of the Alicante Court convicted businessman Enrique Ortiz, also confessedly convicted of illegal financing of the Valencian PP, for giving the former mayor of Alicante a Carolina Herrera jacket, while the seventh section of the same Court acquitted the same corrupting employer. for giving trips on his private yacht to the former president of the Alicante Provincial Council, José Joaquín Ripoll, and his family. In the case of Ripoll, the conduct of both of them for the gift was not considered a crime due to “their relationship of friendship,” while in the ruling ratified by the Supreme Court against Castedo, the well-known friendship between businessman and politician was not enough and cost Enrique Ortiz a sentence because “it exceeds what is socially accepted.” And Ripoll was as much a friend of Ortiz as Castedo was, as has been seen in the different trials.
The seventh section of the Provincial Court of Alicante recognizes in the ruling that, “during the processing of the file, in 2008, taking advantage of the fact that they were at the Seville fair, Enrique Ortiz invited José Joaquín Ripoll and his wife along with another group of people known to have a drink on their boat.” That is, the awarding businessman invited one of the key people in the award and his family to his boat. But the handouts did not end during the award period. “Likewise,” the sentence states, “between August 6 and 9, 2008, Enrique Ortiz and José Joaquín Ripoll met on the boat Elena, owned by Enrique Ortiz, on a stay in the Balearic Islands. Rafael G. and his wife and José Joaquín Ripoll with his wife and daughters went to said boat, where Enrique Ortiz’s family was already present, as well as his brother’s.
The following year, the vacation was without Ortiz, but on his yacht. “Subsequently, between August 27 and 30, 2009, José Joaquín Ripoll and wife, Rafael G. and wife and a third couple were also in the Balearic Islands on a boat owned by Enrique Ortiuz that he gave them, being the “The only expense for Enrique Ortiz is fuel and moorings.” The Court forgets to count the cost of renting a boat valued at millions of euros that would have cost the former president of the Alicante Provincial Council.
After recounting the proven facts, the court concludes in the ruling that “it has not been proven that these trips were made with the intention of influencing the conduct of José Joaquin R. in the processing of the Zonal Plan file, but rather that the invitations They were carried out based on the relationship of friendship between the families of Ripoll, Ortiz and G.”.
On the contrary, the gift of the Carolina Herrera brand jacket to Castedo cost Enrique Ortiz his second final conviction. It was at Christmas 2008 (the same time as his first trip to the Principality of Andorra), “due to the relations established between him, in his capacity as an urban planning entrepreneur, and part of the local authorities,” according to the proven facts of the sentence confirmed by the TS. The appeal by Ortiz’s defense alleged that he was convicted of a crime of improper active bribery despite the fact that between the donor and the recipient of the gift (and between their families) “there was a close and long-standing relationship of friendship.” ”. He also maintained that the Carolina Herrera jacket was delivered at Christmas but coinciding with Sonia Castedo’s birthday, December 23. Neither the third section nor the Supreme Court used this relationship of friendship between families to convict the businessman.
Alperi was indeed convicted for the gifts
The former mayor of Alicante Luis Díaz Alperi had less luck with the Court, who also in the macro-cause piece Brugal was sentenced to a fine of 6,000 euros, for the crime of improper bribery, and Ortiz to a fine of 18,000 euros. . The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court (TS) accepted the appeal of the former mayor of the PP, thus acquitting Díaz Alperi due to prescription. However, the high court dismissed the businessman’s appeal and confirmed the fine.
The sentence, as this newspaper already reported, after analyzing the evidence conducted, concludes that it has not been proven “the existence of an agreement between the accused to alter or manipulate the council’s agreements, nor that any of the accused offered or accepted gifts aimed at achieving a resolution from the consortium that favors them.”
Likewise, the magistrates also found no evidence that the accused influenced or tried to influence members of the Vega Baja Waste Consortium “that were beneficial to them” or that they “revealed data from the file that caused any harm to the outcome of the procedure.” .
The striking thing about this interpretation of friendship is that a politician who is responsible in an award process can receive gifts from a businessman who participates in the contest and ends up winning. They can pay you for weekends on a yacht or even lend you their boat for your personal enjoyment. Friendship can do everything.
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