The Provincial Court of Valladolid has condemned the two former Deputy Ministers of Economy in the Junta de Castilla y León (PP) – Rafael Delgado and Begoña Hernández – for prevarication in the case of the extra cost of the Perla Negra building, which cost 70 million to the public treasury and the purchase of the Portillo land for 34 million euros for an industrial estate that was never built.
Six of the accused businessmen and Juan Carlos Sacristán, former CEO of Gesturcal – a defunct public company that bought industrial land – have also been convicted of a continued crime of prevarication. One of the main defendants in the case, Alberto Esgueva, has been acquitted after the Prosecutor’s Office and PSOE withdrew the accusation during the oral trial because the facts of which he was accused could not be proven.
Compensations to the Government of Castilla y León
The document, against which an appeal is possible before the Supreme Court, condemns Rafael Delgado and the businessmen Germán Martín Giraldo and Ángel Román Montes to pay between the three of them 4.5 million euros to the Junta de Castilla y León, of the that Urban Proyecta is the subsidiary civil party responsible. In addition, Rafael Delgado and four convicted businessmen – Luis Antonio Recio, Francisco Esgueva, Luis Ángel Rodríguez and Carlos González Maestro – must compensate the Government of Castilla y León another two million euros. On this occasion, the subsidiary civil company responsible is Parque Empresarial de Portillo SL and Cementos La Bureba.
The two former deputy councilors indicted have been convicted of a crime of administrative prevarication, although it does not imply prison sentences in the Perla Negra case. In both cases, the highly qualified mitigating circumstance of undue delays has been applied. The one who is sentenced to prison is the one who was Deputy Minister of Economy between 2003 and 2007, Rafael Delgado: two years and six months in prison for a continuous crime of embezzlement of public funds, in addition to 9 years and six months of disqualification for the public employment with a crime of administrative prevarication and misappropriation of public funds.
Rafael Delgado has been acquitted of the crimes of revealing secrets, prohibited negotiation, influence peddling, bribery and criminal organization. Her successor in office, Begoña Hernández, has been sentenced for a continuing crime of administrative prevarication to two years and two months of disqualification from public employment, but has been acquitted of the crimes of revealing secrets, influence peddling, embezzlement, fraud, bribery and criminal organization.
The former managing director of Gesturcal Salvador Molina and the former financial director of Gesturcal and ADE Parques Francisco Arnero—for whom the Prosecutor’s Office requested four years in prison—have been acquitted. Justice has also sentenced Juan Carlos Sacristán, former CEO of Gesturcal, for a continued crime of prevarication to two years and 14 days of disqualification from public employment.
The Court has sentenced businessman Germán Martín Giraldo for the crime of violation of secrets to 11 months in prison and has acquitted him of the crimes of fraud, bribery, criminal organization, revelation of secrets and influence peddling.
Among the convicted businessmen are, in addition to Germán Martín Giraldo, Ángel Román Montes – 11 months in prison for a crime of violation of secrets -, Luis Antonio Recio – 7 months in prison for influence peddling and a fine of 1.47 million of euros—, Francisco Esgueva —7 months in prison for influence peddling and a fine of 1.47 million euros—, Luis Ángel Rodríguez —7 months in prison for influence peddling and a fine of 1.47 million euros—, Carlos González Maestro —7 months in prison for influence peddling and a fine of 1.47 million euros—.
The instruction, which began in 2013, left behind loopholes such as the purchase of a mansion in Brusselsconcluded with twelve accused: two of the former vice-counselors who worked in Economy between 2003 and 2015, seven businessmen and three directors of Gesturcal, the public company – now defunct – that was in charge of the purchase of industrial land.
Rafael Delgado (former Deputy Minister of Economy who is also accused in the wind plot) and Begoña Hernández (Delgado’s successor in office) were the two main defendants in the plot. Alberto Esgueva, also accused in the Wind Plot and whom the Supreme Court has exempted from paying 20 million euros in taxes due to a bureaucratic error, has been acquitted in the case.
90 witnesses and experts have participated in the trial, including the former regional vice president Juan Vicente Herrera and the former Treasury advisor Pilar del Olmo, who assured in the trial that she was never informed that the building in question was going to be purchased.
The ‘Black Pearl’ case is one of the most important corruption plots of the four and a half legislatures in which Juan Vicente Herrera led the Junta de Castilla y León. The developer asked for between 60 and 72 million, and supposedly a purchase was closed for 52. But 70 was paid. A report from the General State Intervention indicates, among other irregularities, that it was paid twice for some items.
The case spent ten years in the Investigative Court and in 2022 it was suspended in March 2022 and returned the case to the investigating judge for another two years because the parties did not have all the documentation of the case. The Ministry favored the building’s developer, Urban Proyecta PM3, which also had interests in the industrial estate.
Among those investigated was the former Minister of Economy Tomás Villanueva, one of the most powerful men in Castilla y León who worked in politics for more than 20 years and who died suddenly in 2017 a month before testifying before the investigating judge.
It remains to begin the trial of the Wind Plot, which has some defendants in common with Perla Negra. A date has not yet been set for the oral trial, which has been delayed because two of the three judges of the TSJ Chamber participated in the investigation and, therefore, must be replaced for the oral trial.
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