A Vox Valencia mayor denounces the party for alleged illegal financing, embezzlement and criminal organization

VALENCIA, 26 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The councilor of Vox in the City Council of Valencia Vicente Montañez, one of the two councilors with whom the formation in this consistory has counted since 2019, has denounced the party before the Prosecutor's Office for alleged crimes of "illegal financing of political parties, false documentary, prevarication, embezzlement, coercion and criminal organization".

This is reflected in the complaint that Montañez has presented this Friday before the Prosecutor's Office in the City of Justice of Valencia, as elDiario.es has advanced and the mayor himself has confirmed to Europa Press.

After formalizing it, the councilor has indicated, in statements sent to the media, that what he has done has been to inform the public prosecutor "everything he was denouncing" in the press.

Likewise, he has stated that the complaint "has not been made before because all the information" necessary to prepare it was being collected. "Today I have brought before the Public Prosecutor a series of indications that I believe constitute the crime of illegal financing of political parties, documentary falsification, prevarication, embezzlement, coercion and criminal organization," Montañez detailed.

The councilor explained that these alleged crimes "are articulated and have been justified" with "more than fifty attached documents, all of them issued from the different bodies of the Vox party, the vast majority of which are national" and pointed out that "at least more than eight national deputies intervened systematically in what apparently and according to the indications that we considered could be a real network aimed at emptying the coffers of the municipal groups".

Vicente Montañez has detailed that the actions presented before the Prosecutor's Office are articulated "around four fundamental axes." He has asserted that "one of them is the intention on the part of the party's general secretariat, specifically Javier Ortega de Smith and a large part of his organization, to control in the first person, through a grant of power of attorney, the account of the municipal groups.

The Vox representative has highlighted that he announced, "on successive occasions", that the Valencia municipal group "gave up doing it" and has pointed out that it has suffered "innumerable pressures for having done so". Thus, he has specified that "it was forced to open it in the name of Javier Ortega Smith, in the name of the then manager of the party, the deputy secretary of legal services and some other person."

"We had to grant those powers. I refused," he stressed, after which he said that "at the moment this disappears" he opens the account.

Montañez has reported that "the second way" to try to "plunder the coffers of the municipal groups" was "through a series of agreements through the provision of theoretical services that were never produced" and "for which the party had no capacity in terms of personnel. Similarly, he has declared "there was no documentary contribution to justify where that income had gone."

In this regard, the mayor has alluded to an "explanatory meeting that the general secretary of the party, Javier Ortega Smith, had with 300 councilors; along with the manager and the treasurer" and has advanced that "an audio in the who end up acknowledging that what the party did not want was to return the subsidies and that they fell to the benefit of the party and the political project of Vox".

Vicente Montañez has stated that this is something that in his opinion and "with sufficient legal grounds is absolutely contrary to the current Party Financing Law and contrary to the Local Regime Base Law."

The municipal representative has added that the "third way" was "direct in vein" and has added that this was "the one that directly" was wanted to "apply in the last instance" to him "under duress and under threats." He has detailed that "it was paying an invoice, in the case of Valencia, of more than 8,000 euros for services that had never been provided" and that "there was no intention to provide or organize."

"It was not possible to issue an invoice for services that had not been carried out and that were never going to be carried out", he considered, after which he stated that the "fourth way" referred to the use of "municipal aid and subsidies for financing of certain venues". He has cited a case in Alzira (Valencia) of a contract signed "with a company for the rental of premises" as a "citizen headquarters" that "in reality it was being used solely and exclusively as the headquarters of Vox" and has stated that "evidence" is provided.

Asked why he thinks it will happen after his complaint, Montañez has considered, "after providing all the documentation", that "there are more than enough indications for the corresponding investigation to be opened."

"We are facing very serious criminal offenses to a large extent allegedly committed by registered persons, by deputies, by representatives of very important organic positions in the front line of the party. I believe that if these indications are estimated, of course there will be an investigation," he added.

Asked about the consequences that this may have in the 28M municipal elections, he stressed that he is not now "part of any list" and that he has not been an "active part of the elections."

"I come to fulfill my obligation as a citizen, with my obligation as a politician. And to the extent that I know certain documented indications of the possible commission of a crime, I inform the Prosecutor's Office," he explained regarding his complaint.

After that, he said: "I care little at this time about the electoral repercussions or not. We should never be talking about this situation. If this type of action generates some type of impairment, they would have thought about it before doing, at least, certain acts".