Pablo Iglesias, during the closing ceremony of the Fall University Days of Podemos in 2022. David Expósito
After 15 months of searching, the judge in the Neurona case already has an expert who will prepare the final report of the investigation. Judge Juan José Escalonilla selected Aleix Sanmartín, who worked for Andalusian President Juan Manuel Moreno (PP) and for the PSOE. A few days ago, as EL PAÍS advanced, this consultant requested the preparation of the document that must calculate the price of the work done for Podemos by the Mexican company Neurona in the April 2019 general elections, to compare it with the 363,000 he paid the match. The instructor himself suggested it last November, but Sanmartín said yes “until a few days ago”.
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Through a resolution this Wednesday, to which EL PAÍS had access, Escalonilla notifies the parties of Sanmartín’s appointment and, on March 1, invites him to formally accept the assignment and swear in the “position of expert”. Sanmartín helped Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla to an absolute majority in Andalusia in 2022 and has developed a tool for the PSOE. In turn, according to his website, he has worked for top international leaders such as Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the current President of Mexico; José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Tabaré Vázquez, former Presidents of Spain and Uruguay respectively. “And also with the President of Extremadura, Guillermo Fernández Vara; with the President of the Region of Murcia, Fernando López Miras; and with the President of the Valencian Community, Ximo Puig,” the website reads.
This report had become a real headache for the magistrate, who has been trying to push it forward since November 2021. So far, nearly a dozen professionals and associations had refused to accept it.
The judge who opened Neurona’s case in the summer of 2020 after receiving a complaint from a former Podemos lawyer – José Manuel Calvente, at odds with the leadership – is investigating Podemos’ relationship with Mexican consulting firm Neurona. At first, Escalonilla suspected that the founding paid the company €363,000 for services it never provided. After proving the existence of work by the Latin American company, the judge turned the investigation around and is now investigating whether the price paid to Neurona was excessive. To do this, he would like an expert opinion to be drawn up in order to calculate how high the costs should be.
However, both prosecutors and Podemos reiterate that this will not do much good. “We understand that training can be completed with those providers it deems appropriate and it is possible that costs cannot be reliably determined,” the public ministry said. “Prices are not tariffs or tariffs […] Producing specific products is not the same as having a complete campaign team that can cover all areas and is available 24 hours a day. [horas al día] / 7 [días a la semana] […] Not all offices, nor all professionals, ask the same for their services,” the left-wing political force added.
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This report is the missing piece. On July 27, the judge already closed the investigation period for the case, but has not yet decided whether to file it or prosecute anyone. As he has indicated, he will not do so until he has received the expert document.
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