‘El Melonero’, who is facing seven years in prison, rules out that he had any participation in the operation, and Rafael Aguilera assures that it was Antonio “the one who made and unmade”
The two former promoters of the ‘Trampoline empire’ demonstrated this Wednesday, before the judge, that the good times are now history and that there is an irremediable abyss between them. Antonio Martínez, ‘El Melonero’, and Rafael Aguilera returned to sit this Wednesday on the defendants’ bench to
face a charge for alleged fraud that could lead to up to 14 years in prison, seven per head. In their statements, both threw balls out and accused each other of directing the alleged fraud.
The prosecution accuses both of defrauding
a dozen foreign couples who acquired as many homes in the Solera El Trampolín urbanization. This resort began to be built in 2005 in the Murcian district of Gea and Truyols.
The provisional conclusions of the Public Ministry indicate that both allegedly incurred this crime when they taxed the properties for sale, unilaterally, with
two mortgages in favor of the old Mediterranean Savings Bank (CAM), without the buyers knowing. These two promoters of large developments in the first decade of this century did not exchange a word while waiting in the corridor for the start of the hearing. A detail that allowed to foresee the strategy that both would deploy minutes later in court.
In the course of the intervention, Aguilera discharged all responsibility in the fact that his partner was in charge of the promoter. “Antonio was the one who did and undo,” he stressed. «
I, from the first day to the last, have been in the work and Antonio was in charge of everything else«He argued before the court. «I did not find out anything. They prepared everything and, when it was ready, they called me to sign.
Aguilera tried to distance himself from any responsibility in the negotiation of the mortgages on those houses in the urbanization. The promoter went so far as to maintain that he was not present at any of the meetings held with the bank to close these contracts, although when asked by the prosecutor he was forced to correct his statement by acknowledging his presence in some of these meetings. He maintained, however, that he did not remember the content of these dialogues. Before the judges, Aguilera assured that “I don’t know how to write Spanish and I barely know how to read” and elaborated on that supposed ignorance: “I don’t understand loans or anything. I’ve never been to school.
Antonio Martínez, for his part, ruled out any participation in the management of these mortgages on the Solera homes. “Rafael was the owner and lord there,” he stressed. ‘El Melonero’ did acknowledge having made
some management to try to ensure that part of that money reached the accounts of his company, Trampolín Hills, with whom, he assured, Solera had a debt. «Rafael is more attached than a chotis. He counts the money in front of a mirror so he doesn’t miss a penny.
Throughout his intervention, however, the promoter of Trampolín ruled out that he carried out administration tasks in Solera. “I was just another employee there,” he remarked. «
I was looking for the land, he paid me at the end of the month and walking that is gerund».
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