The first penalty in the Taula case and the first blow to known money addict, Marcos Benavent, former manager of Imelsa (the publicly traded company of the Valencian City Council) and one of his partners, Rafael García Barat, owner of Thematica Events company. Both were sentenced to seven years and ten months’ imprisonment (Benavent) and nine years and two months’ imprisonment (García Barat) for defrauding 336,548 euros from the treasury of Imelsa (Impulso Económico Local SA) and the Ministry of Culture. Valencia City Council between 2008 and 2012 through the company Thematica Events, both owned by them.
The third most severe sentence of this first sentence of the Thematica Events section of the Taula trial falls on Francisca Tamarit, head of the Valencian City Council Cultural Action service, who was sentenced to five years in prison for perjury, embezzlement of public documents. and falsification of a public document committed in the issuance of Bibliobús in 2008 and 2009.
The other four convicted are Marcos Benavent’s two fronts, Jaime José Úbeda (3 years in prison) and José Estarlich (7 months after confessing the facts). And two Seville businessmen who Thematica Events subcontracted for an event on behalf of Imelsa, who pleaded guilty and got sentences that would get them out of jail by returning the defrauded money.
In this first separate piece of the twelfth in the Taula case, the payment of the Moncada and Vilamarxant municipal campaigns (developed by Thematica Events) with public funds, the Bibliobus contracts at Valencia City Council, Muvim and the screen company Berceo Mantenimiento to Imelsa for the personal benefit of Marcos Benavent. fake invoice. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office requested the return of 456,499.98 Euros to the public coffers for the money embezzled or laundered for all these events. The decision reduces this claim to 336,548 euros, which will go back into the accounts of Valencia City Council (106,728 euros) and Valencia City Council (229,821.05 euros).
The face of punishment is the acquittal of the People’s Party’s civil responsibility subsidiary, Juan José Medina, the former mayor of Moncada and coordinator of the PP’s campaign in Valencia province. Medina was acquitted of embezzlement along with Benavent and García Barat in the Moncada and Vilamarxant election campaigns of the People’s Party in the 2007 municipal elections and the 2008 general elections. The amount claimed from the PP was €41,819.47.
Two acquittals in the case
The judges of the fifth division of the Valencian Court, considering the events, consider that “the services provided by Themática Events SL organization in the 2007 Moncada and Vilamarxant municipal elections and the 2008 general elections have not been proven”. financed from cost overruns in billing issued to Imelsa on behalf of Themática Events SL for other concepts”.
The verdict also acquits Juan Enrique Montblanch, Imelsa’s former financial director, for considering he did not participate in the events.
Source: Informacion
Emma Matthew is a political analyst for “Social Bites”. With a keen understanding of the inner workings of government and a passion for politics, she provides insightful and informative coverage of the latest political developments.