Former Vox deputy Francisco Serrano prosecuted for alleged aid fraud and fraud with a loan of 2.5 million

SEVILLA, 20 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Investigating Court number 16 of Seville has decided to continue with the processing of the abbreviated procedure, the proceedings initiated against the former regional deputy of Vox and former president of the party in Andalusia, Francisco Serrano, for a possible crime of subsidy fraud and another alleged crime of fraud, in relation to a state loan of almost 2.5 million euros, according to an order issued by said instance and collected by Europa Press.

The order details that in 2016, Francisco Serrano, Enrique Pelegrín and Francisco Javier López Ballesteros, the latter two also affected by the transformation of the preliminary proceedings into an abbreviated procedure, "arranged with the purpose of obtaining, without having due solvency, a Reindus loan (from the Ministry of Industry), whose amount of 2,489,000 euros has been allocated for purposes other than the construction of a pellet factory in the town of Niebla", which was the object of the requested funds.

The order of the case, derived from the initial complaint before the UDEF of the general secretary of Facua, Rubén Sánchez, specifies that aware of "the importance of offering an image of solvency to the Ministry of Industry" to capture their loans, Serrano through of their company Serrano Abogados and Pelegrín established the company Biowood Niebla with a contribution of their own funds of 7,000 euros and "machinery that was never bought or owned by the partners, so the statement was not true."

According to the order, the Ministry of Industry granted them a loan for an amount of 2,489,000 euros "with the commitment that Biowood Niebla will also invest 1,027,125 euros, weighing "the lack of adjustment to the reality of the financial situation and assets of the company", after "pretending a financial solvency that it did not have and obtaining the loan improperly".

Once the loan was collected, according to the instruction of the case, the "disposals" of the money "for purposes not included" in the subsidized project began, allocating some 200,000 euros to "a client of Serrano Abogados who was in need of financing and who Biowood decided to make a loan with the state funds received.

Serrano, Pelegrín and Ballesteros, according to the order, "met on different occasions with Manuel Gavira Gomez (the aforementioned client of Serrano Abogados) and they were aware that the money was going to be used to pay debts of the borrower's companies."

Another 1.3 million euros would have been allocated to the "constitution of an investment fund", while in addition "loans were formalized to Francisco Serrano companies such as XYZ Comunicaciones, Serrano Abogados and Serralba, with 24,180 euros; and Biowwod" guaranteed XYZ against Ibercaja in a loan that, as it is not repaid, is paid by Biowood with the amount of the Reindus loan".

The order also indicates a loan of 30,000 euros to Serrano Abogados, which according to an expert "corresponds to the payment of the maintenance expenses of the common headquarters of Serrano Abogados and Biowood Niebla at 50 percent, but not even said expenses can be financed with the Reindus loan, nor the expenses of Biowood Niebla, without activity or personnel, are comparable to those of the law firm".

The investigating judge Juan Gutiérrez Casillas also points out "a series of debt acknowledgments by Serralba to Francisco Serrano "that are paid from Reindus, credit policy payments and an agreement to exonerate liability for the management of the Reindus loan."

"Given the requirements made by the Ministry of Industry, the continuation of the project has been simulated, providing continuous documentation from Woodsims, without the manufacture, installation and commissioning having even begun when its execution lasts between seven months and one year.As of 8/30/2022, work has been executed in accordance with the project for an amount of 512,229.51 euros for a warehouse and 142,621.52 euros for offices, that is, 654,851 euros, when the maximum amount of the loan for building It was 544,316 euros. Nothing from the budget for apparatus and production equipment has been purchased and installed," sums up the order to transform the proceedings into an abbreviated procedure.

"Consequently, of the 2,489,000 euros paid by the Ministry of Industry for the installation of a pellet factory in accordance with the authorized items, only the figure of 544,316 euros is in accordance with the project", concludes the investigating judge, who appreciates "rational indications of a crime of subsidy fraud and a crime of fraud", attributed to Francisco Serrano, Enrique Pelegrín and Francisco Javier López Ballesteros.

The judge finally agrees to the partial dismissal and filing of the proceedings with respect to Álvaro Sánchez Fernández by not considering it proven that "he had participated directly, neither as a necessary collaborator, nor as a co-participant inducing or concealing any of the acts related in the account of the facts". .