The former president of the Valencian Provincial Council between 2007 and 2015, the popular Alfonso Rus, has assured this Thursday that he only hired the members of his cabinet, ignoring the rest of the appointments in the institution and affirmed that he “never” ordered that neither Imelsa, the provincial company’s limited company, nor Ciegsa, which was owned by the Generalitat and also in the hands of the PP, should have “zombie” workers employed.
The party’s former powerful baron has testified as a defendant in the trial of two of the plays in the Imelsa case and faces a 12-year jail sentence for hiring at least 15 people who would not have worked for those institutions. Ten of them admitted the facts this Wednesday and several accused him of promoting their connection.
“Everyone I hired was for the provincial council cabinet, not Imelsa, and those who were in my cabinet came every day from 9am to 9:30pm. Those who were with me either worked like that or took to the streets, ”specified Rus, who only answered questions from his lawyers. “I only ordered those who reported to me, in the provincial council and in the city council of Xàtiva (where I was mayor), nothing more. I answer for these people. I’m not responsible for what the others have signed,” he added. Rus was also President of Imelsa but has assured that the CEO is responsible for these operations.
Furthermore, he said that he does not understand why he is given any powers in Ciegsa (the consulting firm) where one of his key employees, Máximo Caturla, was CEO. “I don’t know why, but they insisted it was so,” he lamented.
transfer market
In his statement, Rus has noted that he was president of his city’s club, the Olímpic de Xàtiva, but “non-profit” and denied that one of the players of his time, Miguel Ángel Mullor, collected his salary from Imelsa instead of the sports unit, shortly after he became President of the Provincial Council.
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The former footballer said he had been appointed an advisor to a deputy unknown to him and had no function other than playing. “It has to be seen,” said Rus, who pointed out that if it had been, there would have been other players in the situation.
The money junkie
Rus used his testimony to distance himself from Marcos Benavent, the “money junkie,” as he called himself at the time. Both this and other parts of the investigation into the “Taula case” are based in part on some audio recordings secretly recorded by Benavent from his colleagues at the time and which the provincial court upheld in its first sentence. These files were handed over by his ex-father-in-law to a deputy of Esquerra Unida and this to the public prosecutor’s office after the separation.
Rus said that the appointment as manager of Imelsa de Benavent, who was previously a councilor in Xàtiva during his tenure, was not solely his responsibility, but that of the board. “The prosecutor can say whatever they want. It wasn’t a unilateral decision,” he said. Of course, he has said that he thought he was suitable, that there had been no conflict under his leadership and that “the opposition made the ripple”. “Then he split and… things that happen,” he slipped.