Two agents from the Central Operative Unit (UCO) have confirmed the diversion of funds in the public company Imelsa and have reported in court how the former manager of the company Marcos Benavent, self-styled ‘money junkie’, told them about false invoices and figureheads
This is how the agents have pronounced themselves, as experts, in the trial that is being carried out in the Valencia Court by Thematica, a piece in which there are nine people accused of the alleged diversion of funds for the payment of electoral campaigns of the Popular Party in the municipal elections of 2007 and the general elections of 2008; as well as for alleged irregularities in the awarding of municipal contracts.
The specialists have explained that they began the investigation in September 2014, when they were transferred a pendrive and different documentation that had been provided by the complainant Rosa Pérez, former deputy and Minister of Participation, Transparency, Cooperation and Democratic Quality.
That flash drive was digitized and moved to Madrid. After that, from the Prosecutor’s Office they were required to go for another flash drive provided by Benavent’s ex-father-in-law and a computer that was in his home. Everything was sealed, he moved to Madrid and everything was guarded, they have pointed out.
In the statement they took from Benavent’s ex-father-in-law, he told them that the audios provided to the procedure were at his home and that he handed them over voluntarily. He also commented that they were recorded by Benavent and that, as far as he knew, they were not manipulated. After several checks, the agents realized that the two flash drives in the case contained the same audios.
After asking Benavent on numerous occasions about these recordings, he told the agents -according to what they have declared- that he had made them and gave explanations about them. Moreover, he provided contexts that were not deduced in the audios.
With this first documentation, the agents prepared a first report, in January 2016, in which they recorded the existence of figureheads and the diversion of funds in Imelsa through the Thematica company. The text detailed the working life of Benavent, who began with a relationship with the Xàtiva City Council, then became self-employed and held a position at the Jaume II El Just Foundation. From there he went on to Imelsa.
When Alfonso Rus became president of the party in Valencia, Benavent -the agents have narrated- went to work in the party full time in the area of communication although he was paid by the foundation, where he had a collection role. “The then president of the foundation covered the contracting procedures with legality and Benavent went to the awardee companies and asked them for between 2 and 3% of the awards,” they affirmed.
While Benavent was in the foundation, Thematica had a turnover of 1.7 million euros in three years. When the investigated left the foundation and went to Imelsa, Thematica began to bill with the public company, they have described.
Regarding this invoicing in Imelsa, Benavent commented to the agents at various points in the procedure that there had been a diversion of funds from the public company, among other companies, to Berceo Maintenance, a company that he created to acquire assets. He put the businessman Jaime José Úbeda so that he does not appear in the entity and enjoy the assets obtained illegally.
Úbeda, according to the agents, had agreed to perform false billing and in a telephone conversation that was intercepted he described what he considered to be a figurehead: “A ‘bobet’ or a person who charges a lot of money for acting as a figurehead,” have reproduced.
The businessman Úbeda was listed as a company “in a lot of companies”, the agents have described, and Benavent told them that he was used to make false invoices. “Then he gave Marcos the money in cash and Úbeda charged an indeterminate amount for it, depending on the order,” they said.
The agents have also assured that Benavent did not tell them at any time during the investigation that he had money from an inheritance and told them that the cash he acquired was kept at home or in a bank safe deposit box.
Asked about the role of José Estarlich as administrator of the Benavent companies, the experts have explained that he succeeded Úbeda and collaborated with them from the beginning and recognized his role as figurehead. He participated in the company and obtained benefits for it, he assured them.
He also alluded to false invoices and explained to them, at various times, that billing was done in two ways: fictitious, for work not done; or increasing the billing amount up to 50,000 euros, a limit for not initiating a contracting procedure with greater guarantees.
Finally, when the agents were asked about the two properties that Benavent acquired in the Alicante town of Jávea, they commented that the person under investigation told them that he liked the municipality and that he diverted funds from Imelsa to buy them through a company, Thematica .
