The judge charges the president of SEPI in the Leire Díez case

MadridThe judge investigating the Leire Díez case at the Audiencia Nacional has added 25 new investigated parties to the case. In a brief order, to which ARA has had access, Santiago Pedraz has summoned – among others – the current president of SEPI, Belén Gualda, as investigated, in the investigation relating to alleged irregularities in the awarding of public contracts. So far, Vicente Fernández – former president of SEPI –, Antxon Alonso – Basque businessman close to Santos Cerdán – and Leire Díez were indicted. The magistrate's decision comes at the request of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, which points to the crimes of criminal organization, influence peddling, embezzlement, prevarication, and insider trading.

Over 39 pages, in a document consulted by ARA, the two prosecutors detail five operations that allegedly constituted a "continuous dynamic of illicit intermediation in public procurement" in which Fernández, Alonso, Díez and Cerdán allegedly acted as an "influence nexus" between "private interests and public decision-makers" and allegedly intervened in "the adoption of administrative resolutions", in the outcome of "public procurement procedures" or in the "channeling of financial aid". All this, they allegedly did – according to the public ministry – with the "necessary and illicit cooperation" of third parties from the public and private sectors who are now being summoned by the judge as investigated. The vast majority of the evidence comes from the chat of the Hirurok group on the Threema application, from the emails exchanged by those investigated and from the documents they exchanged. All of this has been analyzed by the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Guardia Civil in three reports.

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office considers that there was a "repeated, coordinated and structured pattern of action" by those investigated that operated on different fronts. It had a "common scheme" characterized by the "detection of intervention opportunities" in different procedures, the use of "personal relationships" and "access to privileged information" to "influence" their processing; the eventual "manipulation or conditioning" of public decisions or procurement processes and the obtaining of "economic compensation". What is under scrutiny are the public companies MERCASA and Enusa, the rescue of Tubos Reunidos, the Principality of Asturias Business Park (PEPA) and the Forestalia group.

Mercasa

The first thing under suspicion are the movements of the three investigated individuals in the context of Mercasa's headquarters relocation. According to the Prosecutor's Office, they would have obtained a benefit of 18,000 euros. How did they do it? Thanks to a "preferential treatment of favor", Servinabar –Antxon Alonso's company– would have received the commission to prepare a valuation of the headquarters' renovation costs and would have issued a report with a figure "significantly higher" than the real one to justify the relocation. Furthermore, all three "would have planned" a 20% commission to manage the rental of a provisional headquarters.

Enusa

Secondly, they would have used their "capacity for influence" to maneuver to "favor the interests" of Acciona – a company that is under the scrutiny of the Cerdán case regarding public works concessions – which was interested in acquiring Enusa's stakes in the Melilla incinerator and the Cervera del Maestrat (Valencian Community) Urban Waste Treatment Center. They carried out a "direct and coordinated follow-up" of all procedures and, in return, would have received 17,500 euros. "We have the procedure under control," Vicente Fernández even said.

Parc Empresarial Principat d'Astúries

The group also allegedly intervened in a "constant and multidirectional" manner in the awarding of the demolition of the Avilés (Asturias) coke batteries, processed by the Principality of Asturias Business Park. First, they allegedly devised a strategy to "be able to cancel the tender" – in the words of Leire Díez – in which Erri Berri had not been awarded the contract. Subsequently, in the second file, they allegedly pulled strings through "direct contact" with the contracting authority, going so far as to meet with the President of the Contracts Tribunal, to "favor" – according to the Prosecutor's Office – the award to Erri Berri. They succeeded and, as consideration, allegedly received 201,000 euros.

By the way, this operation marked the beginning of the relationship between Erri Berri and Antxon Alonso's companies. The Civil Guard detected other actions in which Erri Berri could have intervened thanks to its "illicit influence", such as demolition work linked to the Camp Nou and other Barça infrastructures.

Forestalia

Finally, the three investigated parties allegedly agreed on a commission of 200,000 euros – which is not recorded as having been paid – to contribute to SEPIDES approving an investment of 17 million euros in a company of the Forestalia group. On the other hand, Antxon Alonso bought shares previously linked to Forestalia for 140,000 euros and, two and a half years later, sold them for more than 6.8 million euros to an entity that would be related to the wife and children of the then president of this company.