The Prosecutor's Office raises the sentence to 3 and a half years in prison for Álvarez-Cascos after examining new documentation

OVIEDO, 11 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Prosecutor's Office of the Principality of Asturias has modified its indictment against Francisco Álvarez-Cascos, promoter of the Foro de Ciudadanos (FAC) party, former president of the Principality and former minister, after assessing the documents, nine boxes, sent by the Special Prosecutor's Office against Corruption and Organized Crime, where they had been deposited by an individual, representative of a foundation.

In his new indictment, the Prosecutor adds one more section to the account of the facts reflected in his first provisional conclusions, increases to 181,648.92 euros the total amount of money that he considers that the defendant allegedly incorporated into his assets and increases to 3 years and 6 months in prison his request for conviction for a continued crime of misappropriation.

According to Circular 2/22, of December 20, of the State Attorney General's Office, on the extra-procedural activity of the Public Prosecutor in the field of criminal investigation, "prosecutors may initiate auxiliary investigation proceedings in those cases in which they deem It is necessary to carry out specific procedures referring to specific aspects in order to complete the ongoing judicial investigation, whatever the procedural phase it is in (investigation, intermediate or oral trial)".

On the other hand, the Coordinating Prosecutor for Economic Crimes, Gabriel Bernal del Castillo, has initiated new pretrial investigation proceedings to determine if, from another part of the content of the boxes received, the commission of a new crime of misappropriation, administration unfair or corrupt in business.

The investigation will be assumed jointly by the Coordinating Prosecutor and a prosecutor who is a member of the Section, Enrique Valdés-Solís, who was already in charge of the government file initiated by the Superior Prosecutor, María Esther Fernández García, after receiving the boxes and the proceedings. of auxiliary research developed.

In relation to the rest of the documentation contained in the boxes, which was ordered and grouped into several sections because they refer to different facts, and therefore susceptible to study and a differentiated response, the Prosecutor's Office considers that the information it contains is prescribed, without entering into Other considerations. The nine boxes containing the documentation were received at the Superior Prosecutor's Office of the Principality of Asturias on January 30.

According to the Prosecutor's Office, the defendant held various relevant positions in the Foro de Ciudadanos (FAC) political party since its constitution in February 2011. In the months immediately prior to the constitution of this party, the defendant received a professional offer , aimed at leading a political project. This economic offer in no case included expenses of a personal nature, freely available expenses without subject to party authorization, or expenses for meals not related to political activity.

Once the professional offer was accepted, the defendant was appointed president of the party from its first congress, which took place on March 5, 2011, and until March 14, 2015, when he became General Secretary, until November 15, 2019.

In the party, since its inception, no treasurer had been appointed and the board of directors, as the body of maximum relevance in its operation, focused mainly on political activity, delegating such a de facto economic function 4 and not worrying about the system offered to the maximum formation figure. In reality, criteria of trust and personal responsibility were established in the use of the party's economic resources, added to the existence of supervision by the Court of Accounts (which was limited to larger aspects and did not analyze the system of expenses). ), explains the Prosecutor's Office in its brief.

Added to this was the existence of a procedure based on trust, made up of certain people who exercised the management and control of spending, although, since they did not hold the function of treasurer, their work was focused on the correct formal functioning, without supervision of the opportunity or correction of the expense. It was, therefore, personnel with powers to pay the expenses but not to audit them and who, after managing them, passed them to a supposed signature and authorization filter, which was automatic, based on trust and orphaned of any qualification on the origin or inadmissibility of the charges.

According to the letter of the Public Ministry, "the defendant was fully aware of this system of payments for the supporting documents that he sent and maintained the same as the head of the party and member of the board of directors (because it was not in vain that he was the main beneficiary of it) The defendant used this system to charge the party a series of expenses not related to his political activity, of a personal nature, his own or that of his relatives, using the party's resources as his own."

"And in this way he diverted certain amounts to his personal assets or those of his related persons. Thus, between May 15, 2011 and October 16, 2017, the defendant charged expenses of a personal nature, not related to the party's accounts. with his political activity, which totals 7,793.22 euros," says the Prosecutor's Office.

Among them, attorney expenses for a previous political matter related to another political party and attorney for a personal matter; psychotechnical; shoes, expenses for four trips to the town of A Coruña and hotel and food expenses; family hotel; food orders at private homes and to 5 names of relatives; a video game console; AVE tickets; tickets for the Davis Cup, for the Thyssen Museum and for the Prado Museum; a complete bed, made up of a mattress, legs and a canapé, as well as a carpet, upholstery and curtains; or restaurant expenses in summer resorts, hamburgers and pizzerias.

The Prosecutor's Office also maintains that the defendant was the administrator of the company XXX until July 8, 2011. On that date he formally resigned, due to incompatibility with the position of president of the Principality of Asturias, which he assumed on July 16, although in reality maintained its control and management. In turn, XXX was owned by the company YYY, a company incorporated by his then spouse on February 27, 2004, since the defendant could not carry out commercial activities because he was then Minister of Public Works. However, it was a company that was de facto managed and used as a capital company by the defendant.

XXX was the owner of a property located on Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid, intended for office rental, which had been purchased through a leasing and had pledged the rental income for payment.

The defendant, in order to receive additional income to what he received from the party, devised the formalization of a fictitious lease for an office to document the payment of certain amounts for rental income. To avoid any control over it, he did it secretly from the party's board of directors. Thus, on September 30, 2012, an office was rented for 2,404 euros per month and a garage space for 225 euros per month.

In turn, on January 28, 2013, the contract for the rental of a double office was formalized for an amount of 3,600 euros per month and two more parking spaces, for an amount of 450 euros. The contract was renewed the following year and maintained until its resolution on December 31, 2014.

As a result of these fictitious contracts, Foro paid XXX 173,855.70 euros. Thus, the total sum of money incorporated into the defendant's assets is 181,648.92 euros.