The Black Pearl arrives in the court harbor. Starting next February 26, the Provincial Court of Valladolid will hold sessions to clarify the Perla Negra case, which is investigating urban development costs of 20 million euros in the purchase of a land and a building from the Junta de Castilla y León in Valladolid in 2005 The investigation began in 2013 and suffered several delays, the most recent due to a lack of documentation when the issues were due to be heard in March 2022. The process involves five former senior officials of the Board of Directors and seven businessmen associated with it PP. Among those identified, from whom the public prosecutor's office is demanding a total of 79 years in prison, are the former deputy economy ministers Rafael Delgado and Begoña Hernández, for whom 11 years in prison are requested. The former regional president Juan Vicente Herrera (PP) has to testify as a witness because he was informed about the inflated prices without reaction. The current PP rejects allegations that suggest that the case belongs to another era.
The acquisition of the land and land in Arroyo de la Encomienda (Valladolid) by the public company Gesturcal amounted to 60.5 million euros despite an initial valuation of 50. The company also paid 9.7 million euros to the developer Urban Project PM3 SL for the expenses he spent himself had to assume this. Some of the inflated amounts concerned the architectural firm Unifica, initiator of the reform of the national PP headquarters and whose managers were convicted by the National Court of a tax crime. The public prosecutor's office points to the former deputy advisors Delgado and Hernández and is demanding eleven years in prison and a fine of 16 million euros. During the period under investigation, both referred to former Economy Minister Tomás Villanueva, who died of natural causes in 2017 at the age of 64, a few days after the Finance Ministry examined his 83 bank accounts. Villanueva has become a taboo name for the regional PP, as he was a man of the greatest trust of former President Herrera and his name is always associated with alleged corrupt causes of the board, such as the Windmill Scheme, which was also prosecuted for irregular grants of windmill licenses. Wind.
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The defense of Begoña Hernández called Herrera as a witness since the former Gesturcal advisor Pablo Trillo assured in the investigation that he himself had informed the president of the “crazy” sum allocated for the building and its land, without Herrera responded. The property's black color and rumors of corruption led to the building being named the Black Pearl, in reference to movie pirate Jack Sparrow's ship. The property is now the headquarters of the Board's development agency, which relies on the economy.
The appointment of Herrera and his senior officials to the court privately puts pressure on a PP that publicly clarifies the problem by alluding to the past and the non-involvement of the current commanders. Party sources emphasize that the matter worries the party since the 2022 judicial calendar, although later suspended, led to the elections being brought forward to February of this year, giving rise to the PP-Vox pact following the dispatch of Alfonso Fernández Mañueco led to Ciudadanos. “You have to be afraid, the trial will take place after the elections in Galicia and there will be pimpam, pimpam all day,” says one involved in the case, with Galicia being a key factor: “If PSOE and Vox fail in Galicia.” At the polls they will insist: “There is a lot out there to weaken the PP and change the discourse.”
The prosecutor's investigation concerns the irregularities of the purchase, with disproportionate estimates, including the amounts prohibited by the regulations or the “double valuation of the same items”. Likewise, the award deadline was shortened in favor of Urban Proyecta, a company that was founded months before the start of the regional project. The company paid €12 million for the property, while the previous buyer paid €660,000 for the property. “He had information that could only be provided by the person who had the authority to make the decision: Tomás Villanueva or Rafael Delgado,” the State Department said. The architectural firm's representative admitted that they had “the specifications” before going to the public competition. Urban “knew it would be the winner and beneficiary,” hence the large investments. “The rental and purchase of the building from Urban Proyecta is based on the personal decision of [Tomás] Villanueva and has seriously violated the law in force,” denounced the prosecutor, who confirmed that in this way Delgado and Hernández “hidden the direct award of decided contracts,” taking advantage of the fact that both of them served during their tenure in the Ministry of Gesturcal Economics presided. Gesturcal lost 15 million euros between 2009 and 2014, when the Black Pearl was already in operation, a decade after the matter went to court and worried the regional PP.
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