The administrator of Canal Maestrat and Kriol, Juan Adell Bover, two of the audiovisual production companies investigated for alleged subsidy fraud and false documents, admitted this Wednesday before the judge that both companies have been the subject of seven files for reimbursement of the aid granted , in this case, by the Ministry of Education of the Generalitat Valenciana for the promotion of Valencian.
In the case, which is part of a complaint from the PP, the director general of Linguistic Policy, Rubén Trenzano, and Francis Puig, brother of the president of the Generalitat Ximo Puig, as administrator of Comunicacions dels Ports and Mas Mut Produccions, are also being investigated.
During the appearance of nearly three hours, to which ABC has had access, Adell Bover explained to the head of the Court of Instruction number 4 of Valencia that Education asked him to return seven grants -six granted to Canal Maestrat (in bankruptcy ) and one to Kriol- of different years.
Precisely, the justification of the public money that all these companies received from the Valencian, Catalan and Aragonese governments between 2015 and 2018 is investigated.
“A control plan was carried out for us, we were denied access to the file, we had to make the allegations blindly and, from there, seven subsidy reimbursement procedures were opened for us,” the businessman pointed out to questions from the spokesperson of the Public Ministry, because he did not want to respond to the popular accusation brought by the PP.
“As we do not agree on the forms or the substance, it is currently in the Contentious-Administrative”, added Adell Bover, while affirming that he has not had similar problems with the Catalan Generalitat. In that sense, the case is pending that both administrations encrypt in separate audits the exact amount that would have been defrauded to know if the criminal threshold of 120.00 euros is exceeded.
The prosecutor questioned Adell Bover about the alleged irregularities that the Economic Crimes Unit of the Judicial Police reveals in a report provided to the case, in which the agents warn that the same invoices are used to justify aid in the Valencian Community and in Catalonia.
“We present a spending proposal and it is the Administration that charges. I do not know at any time what they are going to give or what they are not, In fact, I do not even know the expenses that they have considered, ”said the investigator, along the same lines as what Francis Puig declared two days before. Both highlighted in court that the Generalitat Valenciana does not report the percentage of each expense that it has allocated to justify the subsidy, something that the Catalan government does.
In addition, Adell Bover defended that his relationship with Francis Puig is strictly “commercial” and “intensified” in 2017, for being the contact person with the production companies he manages and from whom he buys or sells content “daily”, something very common , according to their testimony, to cover the different areas in which they have a presence -Castellón and Teruel- lowering costs, although they have never shared workers.
“I neither have nor have I ever had any kind of corporate relationship” with Francis Puig, he stressed. She also denied having, through him, any kind of information about the grants before the calls went out. In that sense, he focused on the fact that of the four years investigated, the invoices that were provided to justify expenses related to Puig’s production companies only accounted for 16.4% of the total. 0.04% if appealed reimbursement processes are taken into account.
However, the prosecutor requested that he contribute all the work -and the defense committed to this- that were billed under the name “Audiovisual production” -content that, according to Adell Bover, was not paid because it was compensated with others between merchants- to have proof that they really exist.
