Former Valencian President Francisco Camps (left) shakes hands with Ricardo Costa during his reinstatement as a member of the Valencian Parliament in 2012 after both were declared innocent in the ‘charge’ process.José Jordán
Francisco Camps’ defense counterattacked this Tuesday in the trial that the National Court is organizing against the former Valencian President for his alleged involvement in the Belt case, focusing on an attempt to testify to the testimony of Ricardo Costa, the former Secretary General of the Supreme Court, to refute The autonomous PP he denounced in court last week when he described the former head of government as a gateway for the corrupt conspiracy in the Valencian community. Camps’ lawyer used the testimony of Mateo Castellá, a former member of the presidential cabinet, to ask him a series of questions intended to challenge the version of Costa, who was the right-hand man of the main accused, at this hearing.
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– Do you remember Costa’s visits to camps? [en el Palau de la Generalitat]? The former President’s lawyer asked Castellá.
—Well, logically, when there was an institutional act, it was there. But I don’t remember any meeting in private sessions,” Castellá replied, assuring that he had followed the then Prime Minister’s agenda for years.
This question had the clear intention of discrediting Costa’s word and has opened up the ban on a whole range of defense questions in the same vein. Last week, the former general secretary of the Valencian PP explained that Camps had a close relationship with Álvaro Pérez aka El Bigotes, the belt network man in the community. A version denied by the former president. But, according to Costa, he himself ate several times with the two in the Palau: “I saw the personal relationship they had. Camps and Pérez told me. I ate with them at the Palau de la Generalitat and they talked about family reunions […] Pérez could ask Camps any question. He didn’t need me,” he said.
Mateo Castellá, during his testimony this Tuesday at the Camps trial.
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Against this background, Camps’ lawyer tried to invalidate Costa’s truthfulness this Tuesday:
—Remember Costa y Camps food in Palau? – insisted on his questions to Castellá.
“No, I don’t remember any private or special meals,” the witness replied.
—Do you know Alvaro Pérez?
“He was responsible for the microphones, scenery etc. at the events of the party.
– Do you remember a meeting between Costa, Camps and Pérez in Palau?
-NO. When all this happened in 2009, we started checking everything and it is not being recorded. I had nothing from him. I was looking for [Francisco] Correa, Álvaro Pérez and the people who have appeared in the press… and I didn’t see that during the time I was there they had passed through the presidency.
—If Pérez had been there, would he have been there?
—Of course it was automatic, everything is reflected.
—Do you know that Pérez was a friend of Camps?
“I knew the President’s friends at the time, and by no means did I have any relationship with Pérez.” It was someone completely different from him. [Pérez era] a very colorful character, and people who were friends of the President were more discreet.
Anti-corruption prosecutors, who are seeking a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for Camps, allege that the former leader of the PP favored the Belt network because of his close relationship with El Bigotes, affirming that he “issued oral instructions.” for awarding the stand “Works of large-scale projects” at the Fitur 2009 tourism fair in Madrid.
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