'Zombies' by Imelsa and Ciegsa acknowledge that they were paid without working and point to Rus and Caturla

A Ciegsa 'zombie': "I showed my full willingness for Ciegsa but where they called me to work was from the headquarters of the PP in Valencia"

A total of 11 defendants in parts B and F of the Imelsa case have acknowledged in the trial that is taking place in the Valencia Court that they received different amounts of money without working in the extinct public company and in Ciegsa and have pointed to the former president of the Diputación and the PP of the province of Valencia Alfonso Rus and the former regional secretary of Education Máximo Caturla as responsible for the hiring.

These defendants - in total, there are 25 in this procedure - have reached an agreement in accordance with the public prosecutor's office by which they have recognized the facts and their sentence has been reduced, which has remained in 14 months in prison.

The first defendant to testify in the third session of the trial was José Estarlich, who was a front man for Imelsa's former manager Marcos Benavent, a self-described 'money junkie'. He explained, to questions from the prosecutor, that he was hired in Imelsa but it was a "pantomime" that they had set up: "The contract was for him to have more free time with which to do personal efforts and for Benavent. I received about 14,000 euros and I have returned," he said.

The defendant has stated that he knew Benavent previously and that he offered to hire him because he was going through a difficult situation: "He needed liquidity and he hired me to have money while at that time he was doing private business for me and for Benavent," he repeated.

For his part, Miguel Ángel Mullor, another of the defendants and a player from the Xàtiva Olímpic, has acknowledged that Rus hired him to work at Imelsa but did nothing there: "I had a team contract and received money for playing. When I passed I was paid to work at Imelsa when I was paid as a footballer. I was hired to advise Isidro Prieto but I did not advise him. I don't know him", he asserted.

Another defendant, Raúl Mateo Ángel Balufo, has exposed that he was hired to work at Imelsa and, nevertheless, he did not develop "any job." "Emilio Llopis hired me and he told me that he was going to be his adviser. I never advised him. I have returned 67,000 euros that I received", he has indicated.

For his part, the defendant Manuel Gómez Pérez has declared that he was hired to work at Ciegsa: "I was unemployed and I asked everyone around me for a job. After a while Emilio Llopis called me and told me that They would call me from Ciegsa to do an interview", he narrated.

"They hired me - he added - and I showed my full disposition to the CEO, but where they called me and sent me work was from the headquarters of the PP in Valencia".

Another 'zombie', Antonio Gil, explained that he was hired to work at Ciegsa as a senior manager and did his job "going to all the events, from laying the foundation stones to visiting municipalities with mayors. That was for the company. He went every week days to Blind and complied with my schedule", he said.

"I worked at the headquarters of Pintor Sorolla and then I went to Hernán Cortés. I am telling the absolute truth because I have an impeccable resume. Then I became a member of the PP," he narrated.

After these initial statements by Gil, his lawyer has asked for some clarifications and it is at that moment when, asked if he has always been working at Ciegsa, he has indicated that "no". "It was a year or a year and a half in Ciegsa and then I worked at the PP headquarters. It was needed in the party and I had to go there, most of those who know me know it. I followed instructions from Ricardo Costa or some of those who were there", he added.

On the other hand, Eva Luisa Sarrión, another defendant, has indicated that she was hired to work at Imelsa but did not do any work there: "Benavent hired me - Imelsa's former manager - and I got paid for it," she confessed.

Another defendant, José Alfonso Vedri, has stated that Imelsa owed him money and asked Benavent to settle the debt. The former manager, he explained, proposed that the public company hire two of its workers for four months even though they did not work for Imelsa and he accepted: "The two workers hired by Imelsa for four months worked for me but Imelsa paid them", he has summarized . This statement has been corroborated by the two employees, also accused.

Raúl Pardós, another of the defendants, has indicated that he signed two certificates indicating that Francisco Cañizares was attached to his position as Imelsa's adviser but this was not the case: "They told me that I had to sign the certificates and I made the mistake to do it," he said.

For his part, Juan Sanchís, another defendant in the proceedings, has acknowledged that he was hired as senior management at Ciegsa but that he did not do any work and was paid for it. He has asserted that he was hired by the former regional Secretary of Education Máximo Caturla.

THE DEFENDANTS AND THE CAUSE

These two pieces, B and F, add up to 25 defendants, including Rus, the former sub-delegate of the Government in Valencia and former deputy Rafael Rubio (PSPV), Máximo Caturla and the former PP deputy Salvador Enguix.

This is the second trial of the Imelsa macro-cause, since the first one was tried in May, the one related to Thematica, with the 'money junkie' as the main defendant, who has been sentenced to seven years and 10 months in prison .

In the pieces that are being judged now, B and F, allegedly irregular hiring has been investigated in the public companies Imelsa and Ciegsa, Rus faces a sentence of 12 years in prison and Rubio --also investigated in the case known as Azud-- to oros six, as can be seen from the provisional qualification of the public prosecutor's office.

The Prosecutor's Office attributes to Rus the crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, a continuous crime of embezzlement of public funds, administrative prevarication and falsification of an official document committed by a public official. Likewise, Rubio is accused of a continued crime of embezzlement of public funds, forgery in an official document and a continued crime of administrative prevarication.

For the former regional secretary of Education Máximo Caturla and the former chief of staff of Rus, Emilio Llopis, he claims the same penalty as for the former president of the Provincial Council for identical crimes, in addition to a fine and disqualification.