Correa points to Camps as the person in charge of introducing 'Gürtel' in Valencia: "We were like an arm of the PP"

He maintains that the rupture of the plot with Genoa and the harmony of 'El Bigotes' with Camps led to the opening of "a path" with the Generalitat

MADRID, 31 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The leader of the 'Gürtel', Francisco Correa, pointed this Tuesday to the former president of the Generalitat Valenciana Francisco Camps as the person responsible for introducing the plot into the autonomous community and putting it in contact with different local administration positions. "We were like an arm of the PP", he has come to maintain.

Correa has expressed himself in this way during his statement in the trial that is taking place in the National Court for the alleged irregularities in the award to Orange Market, one of the companies in the 'Gürtel' plot. For these facts, Camps faces a request from the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor for two years and six months in prison.

Correa, one of the up to 11 defendants who have submitted a letter acknowledging the facts and have settled with the Prosecutor's Office, has detailed to questions from the Prosecutor's Office how the group changed its field of work, going from working for Genoa to working for the Generalitat Valenciana .

According to Correa, it was the change of leader in the Popular Party --from José María Aznar to Mariano Rajoy-- that caused "the relationship" with the party to break, which lasted from 1992 to 2004. Before separating, that The connection between the plot and the formation led the group to become "an arm" of the PP itself.

Correa himself has pointed out that the aforementioned break, together with the harmony of Álvaro Pérez 'El Bigotes' with Camps himself, made the plot focus a new objective: the Valencian Community.

"We are considering opening an office in Valencia to work there with the party and the Administration," said Correa, who has insisted that "initially the relationship" with Camps was channeled through 'El Bigotes'. "From there, (Camps) was presenting him to positions of both the Government, the PP and the Administration," he added.

The leader of the plot, who has assured that he only saw Camps "two or three times", has acknowledged that he "pressured" 'El Bigotes' to try to "enter the Administration" and manage to monopolize the enormous "amount of work " that generated the Generalitat.

In this sense, Correa has detailed that Pérez began this work "alone" and, shortly after, the also accused Mónica Magariños went with him to assist him. At first the group obtained a series of contracts, but not all that Correa would have "desired".

The beginning of this new stage for the 'Gürtel' would not have gone unnoticed by Camps himself, who, according to Correa, was aware that the plot had been "organizing electoral campaigns" for the PP, becoming its "official company". "I think Paco Camps knew it, and Álvaro had told him that we had broken relations with Genoa," he asserted.

In response to the Public Ministry, with whom he has shown his willingness to continue collaborating, Correa has described the role played by some of the main defendants in this oral hearing, who have also acknowledged the facts of which they are accused.

While Pablo Crespo acted as his 'number two', the administrator of some of the 'Gürtel' companies, Isabel Jordán, "gave support" to "El Bigotes" when the plot had "a great event in Valencia". Orange Market, the company with which they were managed, was managed by its manager: Cándido Herrero.

At the end of her statement, the prosecutor Concepción Nicolás asked Correa why she was certain that the Administration would continue to count on the plot for the organization of events year after year. "Because we were very good at working. We did it very well: it was difficult for them to change," she replied with a laugh.

The group was so solvent that, according to Correa, it had plenty of capacity to manage the celebration of the Latin Grammy Awards gala in Valencia, a management that never came to fruition. In any case, the leader of 'Gürtel' has maintained that, if they were able to organize the visit of the Pope, they would have been able to undertake this event without problems.

Crespo himself, for his part, has also delved into the importance of 'El Bigotes' in the arrival of the plot to the Valencian Community. It occurred when Correa "decided that, given the lack of work, a route could be started" in the autonomous community.

Correa's 'number two' pointed out that, in a conversation, 'El Bigotes' explained to him that he had a "very close relationship" with Camps, with whom he "had chemistry". That link, together with the fact that 'El Bigotes' was in charge of directing the Orange Market as if it were a "privileged commercial", made the group manage to settle in Valencia.

After the interventions of Correa and Crespo, the trial will resume on February 13 with the continuation of Crespo's own statement.