A year after the judge in the Púnica case, Manuel García-Castellón, archived the investigation into the alleged irregular financing of the PP in Madrid Regarding Esperanza Aguirre and other defendants, the Criminal Chamber of the National Court has confirmed this decision.
The car released this Tuesday, to which he has had access The Spanish Newspaperrejects the appeal presented by the Association of Democratic Lawyers for Europe (ADADE) and concludes that what seemed to be an organized financing campaign of the Madrid Popular Party has been left “without incriminating indictment support”, which definitively exonerates Aguirre from any responsibility in this matter.
The now confirmed order archived the case regarding the alleged irregular financing of the Madrid PP in 2007, 2008 and 2011 for the former Madrid presidents Esperanza Aguirre and Ignacio González, while it proposed trying former councilor Francisco Granados.
Fundescam and Aguirre
Regarding the diversion of funds from the Autonomous Community of Madrid in favor of the Foundation for the Economic and Social Development of the Autonomous Community of Madrid (Fundescam), the appeal referred to a report from the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office which emphasized that the investigation had revealed the existence of a concert aimed at “it was public funds that fraudulently paid private expenses” of the PP from Madrid.
The magistrates consider, however, that in the order issued by García Castellón there does not appear a statement of such caliber, “what’s more, the order does include a conversation that Esperanza Aguirre maintained with (the later regional president) Jose Ignacio González about the function of Fundescam, its operation and its use as a means of financing the Madrid popular party.
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At one point in this conversation, Aguirre reportedly stated: “That we have jumped the limit of electoral money for the campaign, well, maybe, but of course Fundescam has not paid.” For the Court, precisely the opposite is deduced from this excuse, since there is no evidence that the former president has used the powers granted to her in her capacity as president of the aforementioned foundation. Thus, they conclude that “not only can it be concluded that there was no misuse of the foundation’s funds by the aforementioned, but from the context of the telephone conversation it is deduced that he was unaware of what the functions of the aforementioned foundation were.
Furthermore, regarding the fate of money diverted from public coffers from different Community Departments and their dependent public entities, Judges Teresa Palacios, Carmen Paloma González and Fermín Echárri They conclude that there is also no incriminating data regarding an institutional plan led by the PP that was intended to subsidize the party “in question from its highest levels” and with the collaboration of the various ministries.