Eugenia Martínez de Irujo has been left out, except for a new turn of events, of the judicial case investigating an environmental crime for the use of eight wells without authorization on the Aljóbar estate, owned by the house of Alba located next to Doñana in the term of the Sevillian municipality of Aznalcázar. The investigating judge attended at the time the request made in this regard by the defense, which alleged that, although it appears as president of the Board of Directors of the Agricultural Technical – the family business that carries these lands – is not in the day to day management.
The Duchess of Montoro was called to declare as investigated, but her lawyers requested that her nephew, Luis Martínez de Irujo Hohenlohe-Langenburg, did in her place, who in addition to advisor to Eurote Technique Agrarian is her administrator. Now, as “legal representative of the company”, the judge has summoned to take a statement as investigated on February 20 to the Duke of Aliaga, with a very discreet media profile but that was recently news after receive a fortuitous shot in a monteria in Ávila.
With this step, the magistrate decides to continue with the instruction of the case after receiving in December the expert report of the Civil Guard, which verifies that the illegal pumping of water has caused environmental damage that figure at six million euros and that it can be irreversible . The judge indicates in his last car, on January 31 and to which this newspaper has had access, which so far this negative impact “did not have just been accredited”, and therefore also decrees the closure of the wells, a court order that In fact, what it does is strengthen the hill that has already been completed last December by the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation (CHG).
“Leaving the imputation without effect”
Actually, it has not been now when Eugenia Martínez de Irujo has been out of the case, but that the judge determined more than a year ago in a car on December 1, 2023, as recorded in the summary, the that eldiario.es Andalucía has had access. In the same, it partially revoked a previous resolution “leaving without effect the imputation” of the Duchess of Montoro.
In this way, the head of the Court of First Instance and Instruction 1 of Sanlúcar la Mayor (Seville) partially estimated the appeal that the agricultural Europe the forms of irrigation ”. At that time he decided not to impute anyone waiting for the requested technical reports, that the SEPRONA of the Civil Guard – at the request of the Prosecutor’s Office – prepared and delivered last December, which has given rise to the citation of the Duke of Aliaga .
Although the ‘desimputation’ of Eugenia Martínez de Irujo occurred in December 2023 (there was not two months prosecuted), on September 13 of that same year the Civil Guard has already cited as investigated to Luis Martínez de Irujo, who accepted his right not to declare. The minutes recorded two statements: “That he denies the facts that are investigated and that any statement will be made, where appropriate, before the judicial authority when required for it.” That moment will come now on February 20.
“Your statement would make unproductive”
In his appeal, Agricultural Technical reiterated that the company’s representative is Luis Martínez de Irujo and insisted on the “total ignorance” about the facts investigated by Eugenia Martínez de Irujo, which occupies a presidency that is rotary among family members. This fact, stressed, “would make its statement unproductive in these proceedings”, so he considered “inadmissible” his imputation “because there is no personal responsibility” of the Duchess of Montoro.
In his last car, the magistrate imposes again in a precautionary way the closure of the surprised wells drawing water without authorization, an order that he already dictated in 2023 but that revoked in May 2024 despite the opposition of the Prosecutor’s Office. The illegal extractions were caught again in full functioning last November, despite the warning that they could not be used, which a month later led to its closure by the Guadalquivir Confederation.
The judge points out, emphasizing that he has returned “to be used without having been legalized or endowed with volumetric accountants.” The wells are in the process of regularization, which continues despite all judicial vicissitudes, but while that moment comes the instructor has agreed to his seal, and the withdrawal of the pumps and other equipment that allows the water to be removed. And he launches a clear warning to the property: if he will activate them again, he would face a “crime of disobedience to the judicial authority.”
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