The PP president returns to the dock

The former president of the Diputación of Valencia, the provincial government, and former mayor of Javea, Alfonso Rus of the Partido Popular (PP), returns to court today to face charges in the second corruption case he faces.

This case is related to alleged irregularities detected in the awarding and provision of a telephone service for the public company dependent on the Valencia Provincial Council.

This is the second time that the former president of the provincial Corporation with the PP has been tried in relation to the Imelsa case, while he is waiting to hear the ruling on the piece referring to the alleged illegal hiring of personnel who did not go to their offices.

The Fifth Section of the Provincial Court of Valencia will host the trial from today, which is expected to last until June 9 the third of the trials for this macro-cause of corruption.

In this new trial, in addition to Rus, there are seven others investigated for crimes of influence peddling, prevarication, embezzlement, fraud, document falsification and money laundering in relation to the alleged irregularities detected in the awarding and provision of an Imelsa telephone service between 2013 and 2016.

Next to Rus, the former manager of Imelsa Marcos Benavent – the self-described “money junkie” -, his ex-father-in-law, Mariano López – who was awarded the telephone assistance service -, two officials from the Provincial Council, will sit in the dock. another businessman and two relatives.

With regard to the penalties requested, the Prosecutor’s Office claims 8 years in prison for Rus; 4 and a half years for Marcos Benavent; 13 years for his former father-in-law and for another businessman who acted as administrator of Servimun, the winning firm, and 6 years for a Provincial Council official who allegedly collaborated in the match.

The facts date back to May 2013, when Imelsa, a public company of the Valencia Provincial Council and currently called Divalterra, awarded Servimun SL the contract for the provision of services through a telephone and telematic attention centre to taxpayers of the municipalities that delegated the management and tax collection to the provincial corporation.

According to the information collected by the Central Operating Unit (UCO) of the Guardia Civil, the company awarded the contract received a total of 930,000 euro from Imelsa between August 2013 and January 2016.

The judge considers that there could have been “a deliberate purpose” to award the contract “not to the best offer, but to a certain one and decided in advance, with awareness of both arbitrary favouring and the risk of diverting and wasting public resources.”

The investigator also underlined the “neighbourly and friendly relationship” between one of the accused officials and Marcos Benavent’s former father-in-law, who had “close knowledge” of Alfonso Rus.

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