The third day of testimony in the Erial case featured Francisco Grau Jornet, the financial mind behind the alleged scheme, according to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor. He was described as the one who “built this whole setup” by Zaplana’s confessed frontman, Joaquín Barceló, during his Wednesday statement.
Grau Jornet is an attorney, tax advisor, economist, and formerly taught financial economics and accounting at the University of Alicante (he was suspended after his arrest). He also served on the oversight committee for the Mediterranean Savings Bank (CAM) and represented the Terra Mítica theme park project in Benidorm, Eduardo Zaplana’s flagship venture.
That background helps explain why he is seen as the architect of the financial engineering used to hide illicit proceeds and launder the money involved in the case, which investigators estimate at around 20 million euros. The Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard notes his active participation both in building the scheme and in directing it over time.
The appearance before the court was not easy for Grau Jornet after the calm admission given by Joaquín Barceló, alias Pachano, who spoke without looking at a single page and confirmed the payment of bribes and the scheme used to repatriate funds from offshore accounts.
Yet the economist and lawyer faced the proceedings with defiant confidence. He boasted about his financial know-how and treated the tribunal and the Anti-Corruption prosecutor with condescension, often answering with digressions or explanations only intelligible to Grau himself.
“That man walked where I walked,” he said when referring to a businessman; “I was a reference point in the box.” “I’ll explain it again because you lack experience,” and other direct phrases he uttered to the court while answering the prosecutor’s questions.
Grau also justified why he has not reached a formal plea and acknowledged the acts he is accused of. “There are things I have not lived that I cannot say.” He attempted to undermine Joaquín Barceló’s credibility in his confession, saying, “Barceló told me at the start of December that he would not go back to prison and would do whatever was necessary to avoid it and to keep his wife out of trouble. I too would consider confessing, but there are things I cannot say because I did not witness them. When we finished on Wednesday, Barceló told me: ‘They forced me to do this,’ so Barceló did it,” he explained, avoiding further details about the alleged coercion.
Grau even accused his friend of not telling the truth. “Mr. Barceló said he did not belong to the PP. But yesterday afternoon I saw he had been on the local executive committee of the PP in Benidorm and that he remained involved until our arrests.”
“Here we have the sword of Damocles with the request for prison made against us,” he continued, addressing the Anti-Corruption prosecutor. “Zaplana and I know what prison is; we’ve been through it. The first two months I shared a cell with Barceló, and we know what it was like. After those two months, I spent another four alone.”
Now he faces a prison term sought by Anti-Corruption of eight years for alleged crimes of belonging to a criminal organization (three years) and money laundering (five years), plus a 20 million euro fine and three years of professional and commercial disqualification.
With the proceedings fully underway, the prosecutor’s extensive grilling focused on the tax advisor’s involvement with a Luxembourg-based company used to pay bribes and funnel the money back to Spain. It also examined how the funds moved to purchase the Núñez de Balboa apartment in Madrid, land acquisitions in a La Vila Joiosa development, the exclusive Le Prado de Somosaguas area in Pozuelo de Alarcón, and the Loix boat, an Astondoa 13-meter vessel in navy blue and white.
Imison International and Luxembourg Payments
Imison International was created by the Cotino family on May 9, 2001. In its early days, it was represented and managed by Beatriz García Paesa, a lawyer described as a fiduciary services professional in Luxembourg who would testify. Paesa is the cousin of Francisco Paesa, the renowned spy linked to the Roldán scandal. This company allegedly handles the payments of the bribes and the routing of funds controlled by the Cotino family to Barceló and Fernando Belhot, identified as the Zaplana confederates. Grau stated that he gave no orders to Imison International and justified the exchange of emails and information by saying he supplied Paesa with figures of shares and net amounts, so that Paesa could record the exact figures in the bank concept. Prosecutors allege that Grau ordered a transfer of 540,000 euros on November 4, 2005, from the Luxembourg account of Imison International to two Panamanian entities, Milliken International and Incaina Internacional SA, which had accounts at the Private Bank of Andorra. The recipient reportedly delivered 540,000 euros in cash to the Erial network. This is what investigators call the “compensation” method, used to mask the money’s opaque origin.
Medlevante SL and Gesdesarrollos Integrales were created to receive illicit funds traced to Imison International. From 2008 to 2013 Imison International held 99.88% of Medlevante’s shares. Barceló served as administrator, but prosecutors accuse Grau of managing both companies under Eduardo Zaplana’s orders. Grau disputed this, saying, “The companies were formed in Spain by Barceló. He told me, ‘I have this investment; I suggest you do it this way, it’s my advice.’” He accused Barceló directly, noting that his wife appears on Gesdesarrollos’s founding documents as part of Barceló’s strategy. This framework allowed land purchases in La Vila Joiosa and an attempted acquisition of two penthouses in Altea’s harbor. “When I first met Imison in 2005, they were tied to the Cotinos. I spoke with a Sedesa executive to move the pieces, not with Cotino,” Grau remarked. A detail that Vicente Cotino’s own lawyer repeatedly pressed him on. Grau admitted, “I don’t know what kind of relationship Barcelona has with the Cotinos.”
The forged will and the falsified document. The tax advisor Grau offered verbal gymnastics to justify a forged will that Barceló allegedly hid from view in Grau’s office. The Civil Guard’s UCO found it labeled as a will, yet Grau argued it was merely an alternate instrument aimed at starting negotiations with an investor.
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