'El Bigotes' points to the former Valencian president: "I asked Paco Camps to help me and he helped me"

The person in charge of 'Gürtel' in the Valencian Community assures that it would be "obscene to deny the obvious": "Many people knew what my relationship with Camps was"

MADRID, 20 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The person in charge of 'Gürtel' in the Valencian Community, Álvaro Pérez 'El Bigotes', has indicated on Monday the former president of the Generalitat Francisco Camps as the person responsible for introducing the plot into the autonomous community. "I asked Paco Camps to help me and he helped me", he has maintained.

'El Bigotes' has ruled like this in the trial that has been going on since January at the National Court against Camps for the alleged irregularities in the award to Orange Market, one of the companies in the 'Gürtel' plot, of the contract for the Valencian exhibitor of the Fitur 2009 edition. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office requests two and a half years in prison for the former Valencian president.

In response to questions from prosecutor Concepción Sabadell, Pérez assured that "it would seem obscene to deny the obvious": his good relationship with Camps himself. "I understand that you want to deny the undeniable, but there were many people in Valencia who knew my relationship with Mr. Camps," he added.

'El Bigotes' has referred to the former PP president in this way after the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor exposed him a video of his wedding in which he referred to Camps as a "great" guy who always gave him "good things". "I ask myself a question. I have not seen anyone in this video who has raised their hand and said: I don't know you at all. In that video I am speaking from the heart", he has blurted out.

These direct references to his relationship with Camps have occurred after the former Valencian president has repeatedly assured that he did not know any of those responsible for the Gürtel. 'El Bigotes', however, has clarified that he "often called" the former president, one of the defendants in this trial.

That friendship that both maintained also extended to the wife of Camps himself. "If I could bother him a little, it bothered him a little, I thought that I would not be the only one who would come up with a problem. If I could have a coffee with Isabel and tell her I have this problem, if you mention it to Paco* I would try," he pointed out. .

Pérez has also detailed when the plot decided to move to the Valencian Community. It was, specifically, when Mariano Rajoy took charge of the Popular Party. "I was not comfortable with my job and, in a hotel in Madrid, I met Camps, we were chatting and I told him that I was uncomfortable," he recounted.

That was, he continued, the "first time" that Camps "proposed" that he "go to Valencia to work." "That was at the end of 2003: in 2004 we established ourselves seriously in Valencia, I was constantly coming and going," he added.

Pérez has argued that Camps insisted on moving to the autonomous community, alluding to a better "quality of life" for him and his family. "At first we talked about holding events and party acts. He knew how he knew everyone in the PP how we worked. He knew that rallies were a guarantee of success," he boasted.

In this context, 'El Bigotes' has given more details about how his relationship with the former Valencian president developed. "Mr. (Eduardo) Zaplana left two people he trusted to work with Camps. They were both friends of mine and since I knew Camps I did the vast majority of his campaign events," he asserted.

It was the "success" of Pérez's work in those elections that allowed, according to his version, that 'Gürtel' could settle in the territory. "I told Correa and I told Camps that he was going to set up an office there," said 'El Bigotes'.

Thus, 'El Bigotes' has clarified the extent of his functions. "I did not enter into the subject of contracts: that was already managed by Crespo, Cándido or Blanch. I entered there, but I was in the middle, I was promptly informed of everything. I was in charge of getting the client, and from there if I had to intervene in the specifications, I did not enter," he stated.

Camps himself has shown himself to be especially uncomfortable during the statement by 'El Bigotes', making fuss and exchanging comments with his lawyers, which has caused the president of the court, José Antonio Mora, to call his attention. "Mr. Camps, keep silent and respect the Chamber," he snapped.

The number two in the plot, Pablo Crespo, has also referred to the importance of Camps for the settlement of Gürtel in Valencia, who in response to questions from the Prosecutor's Office has clarified that they did not decide to move "because Valencia is an extraordinary region in all respects senses".

"We did it because we had that facility," he assured, alluding to Pérez's relationship with Camps, stressing that knocking "on an unknown door" is not the same as "being introduced by a person who has not only hierarchical influence but moral."

"If Mr. Pérez is received, it is not because he had a company that at that time was not well known, nothing more than for the events we did for the party. It is because of the good relationship he had with Mr. Camps and that everyone or almost everyone knew," he said.

Crespo has also taken advantage of his statement to defend himself against the accusations launched by Camps for his agreement and that of other defendants with the Prosecutor's Office. What I affirm here I say in the first person. It is more than proven. At no time have I received any indication and I would not accept it either, "he warned.

After the defense asked him if anyone had suggested what he had to declare, Crespo has assured that he has "defended himself with the procedural weapons that the law puts" at his disposal. "I have the right, like anyone else, to change, in the sense that it is true that prison has influenced me. I am very sorry for these actions, it makes me feel ashamed, because I think we have done things that could not be done," It has been recognized.

In this line, Crespo has continued: "I think I have changed for the better. I have been a person who has respected the law, I am an orderly person and I have realized that we have acted in a way that should not be done. I am paying what I have to pay. It's hard to say."

After the declaration of Crespo and Pérez, the trial will resume this Tuesday from 10:00 a.m. with the interrogation of the rest of the defendants.