Six people arrested in a scheme that allegedly manipulated environmental permits in Teruel
Forestalia, which has been registered in Zaragoza and Madrid, also appeared in the case involving Cerdán and Díez
The Central Operational Unit for the Environment (Ucoma) of the Civil Guard has arrested six people as part of an operation against an environmental corruption ring. The investigation focuses on alleged crimes of environmental malfeasance, bribery, money laundering, and membership in a criminal organization, after detecting irregularities in the processing of contracts for wind and solar panel projects belonging to Forestalia, a multinational renewable energy company based in Aragon, as reported by EFE on Tuesday. The investigation stems from the possible manipulation of environmental impact statements, which are required for processing wind and photovoltaic farm projects. According to the evidence, an individual who held a position in the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge may have improperly influenced the issuance of certain environmental resolutions, the Civil Guard explained in a statement on Tuesday. The aim is to determine whether environmental impact statements were manipulated during the permitting process for wind and solar farms to facilitate obtaining the necessary licenses. To find out, agents from the Ucoma, a unit attached to the Nature Protection Service (Seprona), have carried out a total of 12 raids since early this morning, 10 in Madrid and two in Zaragoza. Among the locations searched are the headquarters of Forestalia in Madrid and Zaragoza, as well as about ten homes of company executives. Under the codename Perserte, the operation involves some twenty renewable energy companies, including those in the Maestrat cluster (Teruel), a large-scale wind farm project that has been reported to the Public Prosecutor's Office of Aragon. According to the same investigation, the former high-ranking official of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge allegedly acted in exchange for financial compensation. To move all the money and conceal its origin, those under investigation allegedly used several companies. Links to Santos Cerdán and Leire Díez
The name of this company came up a few months ago in a separate investigation, related to public contracts and led by National Court Judge Antonio Piña, which resulted in five arrests, one of them Leire Díez, a former socialist activist known asplumberof the PSOE, who was released on bail. The objective of the police force, which in this case was not Seprona (the environmental protection service of the Civil Guard), but the Central Operational Unit (UCO), was to determine Forestalia's connection with the former Socialist leader Santos Cerdán and the former member Leire Díez.
According to the court, Leire Díez, Vicente Fernández –former president of SEPI (the state-owned holding company)– and the businessman Antxon Alonso allegedly received some 750,000 euros in commissions in exchange for intervening in at least five transactions involving "public companies and entities dependent on SEPI." Regarding Forestalia, the judge noted, among other things, aid from the State-owned Industrial Holdings Company (SEPI) of 17.32 million euros in Arapelle, a company linked to the Forestalia group, with a commission of 200,000 euros.
