Camps assures that "nobody" in the PP thought that the 'Gürtel' "was doing anything strange": "Neither Rajoy, nor me"

He insists that the companies in the plot were hired by the PP "at the national level" and carried out their campaigns "as normal"

MADRID, 9 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The former president of the Generalitat Valenciana Francisco Camps has assured this Thursday in the trial that is being followed in the National Court for the alleged irregularities of the 'Gürtel' that "nobody" in the Popular Party thought that the plot "was doing nothing strange". "Neither (Mariano) Rajoy, nor me", he has maintained.

Camps, who is facing a request from the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office for two and a half years in prison, expressed himself in this way in his statement before the court that is trying him for the alleged irregularities in the award to Orange Market, one of the companies in the 'Gürtel', from the contract for the Valencian exhibitor at the Fitur 2009 edition.

To questions from his defense, the former president has alluded to the statement of one of the ringleaders of the plot, Álvaro Pérez 'El Bigotes', in a commission in the Congress of Deputies for corruption in the Popular Party.

"It's curious. He himself is in charge of explaining it," he recounted, explaining that Pérez then pointed out that he was in charge "of the light, of illuminating, and of controlling that the stage was well and in its place."

According to Camps, 'El Bigotes' explained in parliament that he had "a relationship with Rajoy" that no other person on his team had. However, it was not a relationship of "saying 'what's up Mariano, how are you uncle, how did you sleep'". "I was explaining to Congress that what he was doing was this. He is modeled on what was done for me," he justified himself.

In this line, the former president has asserted that "nobody thought" that 'El Bigotes' "was doing anything strange." "Neither Rajoy, nor me, nor anyone", he has added, also adding that the first time he became aware of the Gürtel companies was with the sentence for the businesses of the first period of the plot.

"Every time they ask me how Pérez got to Valencia... he came with this group of companies," he stressed, making it clear that these companies "worked with the party at a national level."

At this point, Camps has been asked about who and how the electoral campaigns of 2003 and 2004 were awarded. "They were hired by the party at a national level, and I have had the opportunity to know the official support so that it is known why these companies arrived to Valencia", he explained.

The former president, who in his statement on Wednesday pointed to the national PP as responsible for the contract with Gürtel, has maintained that in the Generalitat Valenciana's audit union there are records that the companies worked in the autonomous community for the 1999 campaign .

And it is that, according to Camps, in the aforementioned sentence for the first period of the plot "some of these companies already appear", which "were carrying out campaigns as normal" for "the popular" "during those years".

On the other hand, the former president has once again referred to his alleged relationship with 'El Bigotes'. "Mr. Pérez has never been to my house, he has never been to the PP headquarters (in Valencia). He has never ever entered the Palau de la Generalitat," he asserted.

From his point of view, it is "paradoxical" that 'El Bigotes' never held an act, precisely, in the Palau itself if what was intended was to "link" his figure with the "presumed awards of these people".

Camps, in addition, has once again referred to his presence at the wedding of 'El Bigotes'. "It was a commitment from the party. Ricardo Costa, the then general secretary of the Valencian PP, asked me to, who was worried. He told me: 'Let's go all of us from the party, president'", he explained.

The former president has indicated that that day "he had a very tight schedule", which forced him to leave "hurriedly" after eating at the banquet. "I went, ate with my party and that's it. It has no more history. I did not go to the ceremony", he has settled.

As he did yesterday, Camps has once again given details of why he decided to "bunkerize" the Generalitat in 2009, after the judge of the National Court Baltasar Garzón ordered a search in the Department of Tourism.

"I was at the Consell that morning, the minister made a gesture to me at the end of the session and made me aside. She told me that the Police had entered to make a search and I told her to try to find out what had happened," he pointed out.

The ex-president of the PP has recognized that there was "a logical concern" for which he asked to "be attentive" to how the situation progressed. "There were things of a certain substance. Then I found out that they had entered Álvaro Pérez's office and I said: 'What a mess'", he added.

It was at that moment, he has assured, that he decided to cut "all kinds of relations" and close "the doors of the party and of the Generalitat" to Gürtel and its companies. "I wanted to know what we were talking about. I thought at that moment that I should have exercised my authority," she has argued.

Following the statement by Camps, the last of the defendants to appear at this oral hearing, the trial will resume on March 21 with the presence of witnesses.