Francisco Granados and Esperanza Aguirre, then high-ranking officials of the Madrid PP, greet each other in a file photo.Gorka Legarcegi
The National Court has taken a further step to put Francisco Granados, the former general secretary of the PP in Madrid, on the bench for his participation in the regional party’s alleged Box B. The Trial Chamber has dismissed the appeal of Esperanza Aguirre’s former adviser to try to quash the indictment issued by Judge Manuel García-Castellón last October implicating him in the alleged conspiracy to irregularly fund the electoral campaign of the Popular Party in the Autonomous Communities of 2011 In an order dated June 19, to which EL PAÍS had access, the court dismissed the former political leader’s allegations and upheld the proposal to try him over this line of investigation in the Púnica case (known as Piece 9): “There are clear indications [contra él]“. No appeal can be lodged against this decision.
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In its argument, the Trial Chamber emphasizes that the evidence “preliminary” indicates that Granados, as head of the PP campaign in Madrid in 2011, “manipulated and falsified” the electoral “accounts” presented to the organ inspectors: “Or for said purposes In addition, the court adds that since he had the status of adviser to the Presidential Office of the Autonomous Community of Madrid at the time, he allegedly also “attracted” businessman Alejandro de Pedro “so that he could do something about his companies could do”. [mejora de la] Online reputation” in favor of Granados himself and “other relevant members of the Madrid executive, at the expense of public funds”. More specifically, just over a month ago, the National Court sentenced De Pedro to four years and three months’ disqualification for carrying out similar work for senior officials in the León Provincial Council.
Part 9 represents one of the main lines of inquiry in the Púnica case, in which the investigating magistrate charged three former presidents of the Autonomous Community of Madrid: Esperanza Aguirre, Ignacio González and Cristina Cifuentes. However, after receiving the anti-corruption prosecutor’s final report on the investigation, García-Castellón narrowed the allegations and narrowed responsibility for the lodge to Granados and Beltrán Gutiérrez, the former manager of the Madrid ethnic groups. Investigators say they don’t have enough evidence to make a higher statement – although the PSOE, which has emerged as a popular allegation along with the Association of Democratic Lawyers for Europe (Adade), has appealed that decision to try to get Aguirre and putting González on the bench, alongside other former senior officials.
In his indictment, the judge alleges that Gutiérrez and Granados concocted “an operation by the PP campaign committee to disguise actual spending” of the 2011 election, which was not reported to the Accounts Chamber. The system consisted of a number of “like-minded businessmen” making “monetary donations” to the training, as “in previous legislatures” – “remitted directly or indirectly to the Secretary-General”. — and others charged fake services to hide the real ones. “The relationship between Granados and Gutiérrez was characterized by complete trust,” emphasized the judge, who saw further alleged irregularities in the 2007 and 2008 elections as mandatory.
Still, Granados appealed to try to stave off his prosecution. Among other things, the former general secretary claimed that his status as campaign manager was purely “honorary” and that he had no “real control” over party accounts. In addition, the former Civil Guard adviser accused him of calling him the “main artist of this whole copla” and reiterated that García-Castellón “contradicted himself” by prosecuting him and omitting senior officials above him . According to Granados, Aguirre and Ignacio González were the people who “could have managed or known everything that happened in the finances of education” by “entering their skills.”
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“They want to forcibly implicate Granados in the trial, without taking into account all the elements that distort the allegations made against him,” said the People’s Defense, which raised the possibility that the events of 2011 also dictated this. However, the Trial Chamber dismissed all of his allegations. The court reminds that there is enough evidence to put him on the bench: such as wiretapping and confiscated documents. Among other things, according to the summary, a black Moleskine notebook with notes on election files and annotations, arranged in two columns and each with the English words “in”, was found at his home. [dentro] and out” [fuera]“. According to the Guardia Civil, this is clear evidence of the movements in box b of the PP in Madrid.
The eight defendants
The Trial Chamber points out that Granados may be subject to electoral crimes, bribery and influence activities. In addition to Francisco Granados and Beltrán Gutiérrez, two men Esperanza Aguirre trusts most, in October Judge García-Castellón indicted six other people in part 9 of the Púnica case: including businessman Alejandro de Pedro himself; Isabel Gallego, former press secretary for the popular president; and Borja Sarasola, former director of Ignacio González. According to data collected by EL PAÍS, the court has currently confirmed the prosecution of six of the eight accused and annulled that of one accused: Francisco Lobo, a former senior official in the first government of Madrid President Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
This latest court decision represents a major setback for Granados, who in June managed to ward off his prosecution in Part 5, which concerns allegedly irregular judgments in various municipalities in the community (Valdemoro, Torrejón de Velasco and Serranillos del Valle). . In this case, the judges accepted the appeal of the former general secretary of the PP, who was also mayor of Valdemoro, claiming that the concessions suspected in Part 5 were made between 2010 and 2014 after he left the post of mayor, in some cases even when he had already left politics.
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