The third day of the Azud trial is the third day of disclosures about the secret separate piece investigating the alleged bribes businessmen paid to PSPV-PSOE leaders to finance the party and the 2007 election.
Agents of the Civil Guard Central Operations Unit (UCO) economic crime group III were summoned yesterday to testify as witnesses to three party employees and several mayors. The statements continued until morning as they had to testify as witnesses without a lawyer and tell the truth about the truth of those who questioned them.
This separate piece of Azud’s case is confidential, so UCO agents of the Civil Guard refrain from giving details about their investigation. Cataluña has been investigated in this case since the second phase of Operation Azud, although in interrogations this newspaper was able to learn that the Civil Guard was interested in the type of relationship with the PSPV-PSOE chief financial officer and former vice president of Bancaixa, José María from 1999-2004.
The latter broke out on 13 May 2021 and ended with the arrest of PSPV export spokesperson Rafael Rubio at Valencia City Council, and a sub-representative of the Government when he was arrested, in addition to the former deputy mayor of Valencia. , Alfonso Grau and businessman Jaime Febrer in a so-called scheme for the payment of commissions and the delivery of gifts in exchange for civic favors and preference in public decisions.
In the first phase of the Azud trial, conducted by the UCO on April 2, 2019, the detainees included José María Corbín, lawyer and brother-in-law of the former mayor of València Rita Barberá.
José María Cataluña was not arrested on May 13, 2021, but the agents were able to confirm the Jucar-Vinalopo transfer as well as numerous documents and notes on contracts in municipalities across the Valencian Community. Investigators in the Azud case believe that Catalonia was the facilitator of “contacts” between businessman Jaime María Febrer and the PSPV-run municipalities during the years the case was being investigated from 2005 to 2013. This documentation is what triggers phase three. The Azud case and the opening of this separate piece, which remains under summary secrecy for the parties.
UCO agents were also involved in the 2007 election campaign, in which the socialist candidate for the Generalitat was Joan Ignasi Pla, and the Civil Guard identified payments made through commercial intermediaries from businessman Jaime Febrer to cooperating advertising companies in the United States. According to the summary of the Azud case, the PSPV-PSOE’s election campaign worth 240,476 euros.