The justice system has tied 11.5 million euros to seven defendants in the Erial case. This is the amount seized by Juzgado de Instrucción 8 in Valencia, which led the Erial investigation under the leadership of magistrate Isabel Rodríguez Guerola, according to court documents.
The largest amount belongs to Eduardo Zaplana, the former president of the Generalitat, totaling 7,103,179.35 euros. Zaplana denies ownership, saying he has never had money abroad.
Direct seizures from Zaplana totaled 131,325.73 euros: 18,000 seized at his home when he was arrested on May 22, 2018; 50,000 seized at his secretary Mitsouko Henriquez’s office, who was acquitted in the case; and 63,325.73 euros in a Sabadell bank account.
The rest of the funds, bringing the total close to seven million, were handed to Erial investigators by Zaplana’s Uruguayan frontman, Fernando Belhot. It amounted to 6,734,026.10 euros, money that Belhot held in custody in Switzerland. And this was the reason the former head of the Generalitat was released.
Only after Juzgado de Instrucción 8 and the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor confirmed the money’s entry into the court’s account did they order the release of the former president and his frontmen on March 7, 2019, and not for medical reasons as is often believed.
According to the Erial verdict, these 6.7 million have been transferred to the Office for Asset Management and Recovery, derived from the accounts Zaplana held in Switzerland, formally titled by Washington Belhot Fierro.
Another 237,827.52 euros were seized in Sabadell Bank accounts whose formal holder was the Uruguayan frontman who testified in the Erial case after becoming a subject of investigation.
As reported by Levante-EMV on Tuesday, Zaplana must also pay three fines totaling 25,030,364 euros: 4.4 million for prevarication, 24,000 for falsity, and 20.6 million for money laundering.
The second defendant with the largest seizure is Zaplana’s former chief of staff, Juan Francisco García Gómez, with 1,889,472.23 euros seized from pensions plans, current accounts, and investment funds.
The chief of staff to the Generalitat president from 1995 to 2002 admitted the crimes and has been sentenced to the minimum prison term of two years and eleven months in total; he must also pay a fine of 1.32 million euros.
The third defendant with a sizeable amount is Zaplana’s tax advisor Francisco Grau, convicted to five years in prison for money laundering as the architect of an international network that laundered bribes and funneled the proceeds back to Spain to fund real estate investments. Grau had 473,214.23 euros seized from various accounts and must pay a 20 million euro fine.
The youth friend and confessed frontman Joaquín Barceló Pachano also saw 471,506.47 euros seized. Barceló admitted aiding in laundering Zaplana’s money and was sentenced to one year and three months in prison plus a five million euro fine. From accounts linked to Costera del Glorio, Gesdesarrollos Integrales, and the Antoneta 15 project, managed by Barceló and used to launder and acquire properties, a total of 1.35 million euros was seized.
Finally, brothers Vicente and José Cotino admitted in court that they paid six million euros for the award of an ITV inspection when Zaplana privatized it. For Vicente Cotino, the sentence includes three years and five months of imprisonment and a 4.3 million euro fine. Juzgado de Instrucción 8 also seized 122,968.40 euros from his accounts. His brother must pay a 320,000 euro fine and face two years in prison for money laundering.