The sentence of the ‘Erial case’, who has sentenced Eduardo Zaplana to 10 years and five months in prisonrepresents a successful achievement in terms of the recovery of corrupt assets that is noted by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard and the investigating judge of the case, Isabel Rodríguez Guerola. A total of 11.5 million euros has been recovered, including funds confiscated and seized to guarantee the pecuniary responsibilities of those convicted. Some assets that pass into the hands of the State.
The plot handled a very high volume of money—with a ‘business figure’ exceeding 20 million euros, according to prosecutor Pablo Ponce— in a complex corporate structure in tax havens that laundered illicit commissions charged to Sedesa, the Cotino family company that obtained capital gains of 86.5 million euros after being awarded the privatization of the ITV, a rigged bidding process by Zaplana and by his former chief of staff, Juan Francisco García, according to the section of proven facts.
The ruling of the sentence, dictated by the fourth section of the Provincial Court of Valenciadetails seizures and interventions of bank accounts, investment funds, pension plans, vehicles, real estate assets or safe deposit boxes. The sentence agrees to the confiscation of an Audi Q7 belonging to Eduardo Zaplana and a BMW X3 in the name of one of the front companies.
A Land Rover of Joaquín Barceló ‘Pachano’confessed figurehead of the plot, and a Smart Fortwo from Francisco Grau, financial advisor.
The sentence imposes fines with a global value of more than 55 million euros. In addition, the former popular minister and former president of the Generalitat Valenciana, the main convict, has 63,325 euros confiscated (half of the funds in an account he shares with his wife); 50,000 euros in cash seized by the UCO in the search of the office of its secretary at Telefónica; 18,000 euros – also in cash – in the registration of his address in Madrid, and 238,100 euros in accounts at Banco Sabadell in the name of the Uruguayan lawyer Fernando Washington Belhotarchitect of the ‘offshore’ structure of the plot in Panama and Andorra.
The confiscation also includes the 6.7 million euros transferred to the Asset Management and Recovery Office from an account in Switzerland formally titled by Belhot but belonging to Zaplana, according to the ruling. In total, the bill to be paid by the former president of the Generalitat Valenciana amounts to 7.1 million euros in addition to the vehicle.
For Juan Francisco García, former chief of staff who reached an agreement with Anticorruption to recognize the facts and thus reduce the prison sentence, his participation in the plot of the ‘Erial case’ has cost him 1.8 million euros, including your funds in bank accounts, investment funds and pension plans.
On the other hand, his wife (convicted as a lucrative participant in the crime of money laundering) has 105,694 euros seized in accounts and in a pension plan. The sentence closes the confiscation section with another 371,371 euros coming from companies in the plot.
Homes in Benidorm and safe deposit boxes
In addition, a total of 473,214 euros owned by Paco Grau, Zaplana’s tax advisor, remain seized, including bank accounts and investment funds, as well as the Smart vehicle and 40% of a home in Alicante.
The sentence keeps 471,506 euros seized from the front man ‘Pachano’, including checking and securities accounts, deposits, investment funds and cash seized during the police search of his home. Also three homes in Benidorm, a safe deposit box at Banco Sabadell and a Land Rover vehicle.
On the other hand, funds for a total of 138,162 euros belonging to the brothers Vicente and José Cotino remain seized, including accounts and pension plans, as well as a safe deposit box at Caixabank.
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