In a landmark corruption investigation led by the Alicante Court, the Orihuela based businessman, known for his role in waste management ventures, faced a ruling that upheld a prior sentence related to issuing fraudulent invoices. The court determined that false billing allowed the business network to avoid over four million euros in tax and public treasury obligations, constituting a major case in the region. The decision, from the Elche based court of the seventh section, confirms that the accused and several collaborators engaged in a scheme that inflated expenses and manipulated VAT for years 2005 and 2006, culminating in substantial financial losses for the treasury.
The ruling may lead to imprisonment, and there is no further recourse against the decision itself. The court left unresolved the matter of the convict’s claimed degenerative illness, a condition raised by the defense in this and related cases, to the execution court that will oversee the sentence.
Originally sentenced by the Orihuela Third Criminal Court in May 2020, the businessman was given one year and six months in prison for five offenses against the Public Treasury and a continuation of forgery of a commercial document as the sole director of the companies Colsur and Proambiente. The events concern alleged fraud in which the defendant says damages of 4,336,328 euros were caused to the Treasury, and fines amounting to 8.6 million euros were applied.
The government identified Fenoll as the central figure in the fake invoice network, coordinating with seven other businessmen who were deemed to be collaborators. The crux of the case involved illicit charges tied to the liquidation of corporate tax for 2005 and 2006, with the Treasury said to have been defrauded by more than four million euros.
The sentences in the first phase added up to decades behind bars, covering 17 crimes against the Public Treasury and three counts of false statements in public documents. In addition, the defendants faced hefty fines and civil liabilities to compensate the misappropriated sums, reinforcing the seriousness of the tax scheme.
The decision of the controversial magistrate Manuel Martinez Aroca, shared with the chamber headed by Mercedes Matarredona and Carmen Valverde, rejected the defenses’ claims. The Orihuela judge who issued the earlier ruling was upheld in full in the higher court process. The third judge involved, Belén Fernandez, was noted in the proceedings.
Looking back to 2010, the Tax Administration opened a review of the corporate tax and value-added tax filings for Colsur and Proambiente for the years 2005 and 2006. The investigative act that triggered the complaint revealed that invoices reflected fictitious VAT expenses and quotas due to services not provided and no real costs, a discovery tied to the wider fraud surrounding the waste management business network.
The Tax Administration faced sharp criticism from the same magistrate toward the tax office in separate proceedings involving Fenoll and fourteen other businessmen in a different tax crime case. The court noted a long history of enforcement actions and emphasized that the authorities were not found to have acted illegally or without accountability in the cited cases.
The Orihuela based operator allegedly engineered the fraud by coordinating with suppliers to offset expenses or sales with falsified invoices, thereby reducing the corporate tax base and increasing the deductible VAT, ultimately increasing the amount payable to the Treasury. The ringleader reportedly leveraged the arrangement to extract multi-million euro gains over two tax years, during a period when Fenoll and associated entities held significant waste management contracts in Vega Baja and the Bajo Segura region.
The conviction for crimes against the Public Treasury extended to the network around Fenoll, with several collaborators receiving prison terms and fines for their roles. Notable sentences included Higinio Sanchez, who received one year and four months in prison plus a 1.9 million euro fine; Juan Antonio and Aurelio Escolano Belmonte, one year and four months with fines of 2.1 million euros for five treasury offenses; Open Ambrosio Corbalan and Fernando Gasso, one year and two months with a 712,272 euro fine; and additional sentences for other participants including a fine of 666,000 euros. The court also rejected arguments regarding procedural delays, noting that the complexity of the case could not be blamed on the defendants themselves.
As the case proceeds, a wide range of related proceedings remain active across multiple venues. Orihuela’s business figure continues to face high-stakes proceedings in the Calp and Vega Baja regional planning hearings, with potential additional prison terms and fines. The Supreme Court is reviewing aspects of the sentencing in collaboration with the prosecution and the presiding magistrate, with ongoing contention over prior wiretaps and the handling of related rights issues. A separate case remains pending in a Cieza court regarding landfill management in the region, alongside other prosecutions tied to similar fraud schemes connected to the same individuals or entities.
These developments underscore a broader pattern of allegations involving fake invoicing, falsified VAT charges, and manipulation of tax records in the waste management sector. Authorities argue that the fraud enabled the defendants to fabricate expense inflations and exaggerate VAT deductions, driving up the net amount payable to the Treasury and elevating the financial penalties owed by the involved companies. The overall narrative points to a tightly interconnected network of actors who leveraged invoices, contracts, and corporate structures to obscure real costs and inflate revenue, a scenario that has drawn intense scrutiny from fiscal authorities and the courts alike.
In the aftermath, legal observers anticipate further indictments and rulings as the cases unfold. The ongoing proceedings illustrate the persistence of high-stakes corruption challenges within the regional business landscape, and they highlight the painstaking efforts of prosecutors, investigators, and judges to disentangle complex financial fraud schemes that span multiple years and several corporate entities. The outcome of these cases will likely influence future enforcement practices and the interpretation of tax and public treasury laws in the region.