The former Secretary of State says that the project to expand El Musel was chosen to guarantee the arrival of EU funds

The former president of Puertos del Estado disassociates himself from the processing of the project: "I had no technical criteria to impose myself"

MADRID, 18 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The former Secretary of State for Transport Fernando Palao has recognized in the trial that is being held at the National Court for the alleged irregularities committed in the award of the contract for the works of the port of El Musel, in Gijón, that the project was conditioned by the funds of cohesion provided by the European Union.

"There was, obviously," he replied after the anti-corruption prosecutor Miguel Serrano asked him if there was a "financial condition" when it came to addressing the expansion. "This work was unaffordable with the Port Authority's own resources and there was a contribution of European funds that was essential to do it", he added.

In this line, Taboada has indicated that in the debate about which project should be chosen, that economic contribution prevailed. "There were certain data that, on the one hand, threatened the funds and, on the other, the Ministry had the approval. Deep down, they became convinced that the solution was enough to solve the most urgent problems," he said, referring to the this variant, the offer that was finally chosen.

However, it has affected the fact that the Ministry of Public Works did not have any type of competence over the aforementioned funds. "The most we could do was support the request of the Port Authority against the Treasury, which was responsible for the distribution of the funds," she asserted.

Palao, for whom the Prosecutor's Office is requesting three years in prison for a crime of fraud, expressed himself in this way during the third session of the oral hearing, which focuses on the expansion works of the port of El Musel and, specifically, on the award in 2004 of the public works contract for an initial amount of 580 million euros. It was a project that, in addition, was financed by the cohesion funds of the European Union, an aid that amounted to 247.5 million euros.

This procedure also focuses on the extra costs that were finally incurred with respect to the initial project. The approval in 2007 of the modified expansion of the port set the final amount at more than 830 million euros, contemplating an increase of 250 million euros in investment.

Palao, who before reaching the Secretary of State was president of the Gijón Port Authority, has defended in his statement that the expansion of the port was absolutely necessary. "Because if not at that time there were some waits for ships that were intolerable for the costs of imported materials that were moved", he explained.

After leaving that position, he arrived at the Ministry of Public Works, titled at that time by Magdalena Álvarez. Among his powers, he has made it clear, was not the management of the ports or the aforementioned port authorities. "They are autonomous entities and the powers are very clearly set out in the law," she clarified.

However, Palao did carry out personal monitoring of the development of the works in El Musel insofar as "they were very important and were in the public debate." "I had to be informed in detail because at any time in my offices with the minister they could ask me what was happening in Gijón," he added.

In this context, the former Secretary of State referred to the meeting he held in 2006 with, among others, the president of Puertos del Estado, the president and director of the Gijón Port Authority and the heads of the companies in charge of undertaking the works.

"I was interested in knowing in detail the problems they had. I wanted to have enough information to be able to satisfy the information needs of the minister herself," he pointed out, stating that in it the contractors highlighted "the difficulties that had to start the works.

The aforementioned problems surrounding the expansion, he stated, came to particularly worry the then head of Public Works, who paid special attention to the "press clippings". "Evidently she was concerned that such an important work would have problems, and the public debate that was opening up in political terms," ​​she acknowledged.

Palao's statement has been followed by that of the former president of State Ports, Mariano Navas, who is facing a request by Anti-Corruption for three years in prison as the perpetrator of a crime of fraud. To questions from the Prosecutor's Office, he has maintained that he did not participate in the El Musel expansion project or the subsequent modification.

"The port law that governed established project planning and adjudication as a function of the Port Authority," he assured, adding that among its powers was only the issuance "of a non-binding report issued by expert engineers" .

Asked about the discrepancies around the different variants offered, Navas stated that, upon his arrival in office, this "subject was already cleared up". "I have found out more about the problems in Gijón from what my lawyer told me and from the press than at that time, because my powers were zero patatero," he added.

In this regard, Navas has indicated that his mission "was to process the Port Authority, period." "I had no technical criteria to impose myself or anything regarding what the engineers of the technical management said," he pointed out, stressing that he never spoke with the Port Authority itself about the status of the works.

"I was not aware. I imagine they would have problems, like those that occur in any construction site. I was much more concerned about what had happened in the port of Barcelona, ​​because the dam had collapsed," he concluded.