Costa against Camps: 'El Bigotes' worked for the Valencian government "by decision of the president"

Former secretary general of the Valencian PP Ricardo Costa has testified this morning in the trial on the award to the Gürtel plot of a tender by the Government of Francisco Camps, who sits on the bench.

The Anti-Corruption interrogation has focused on trying to determine the type of relationship between the former president of the Valencian Community and Álvaro Pérez, the man behind the corrupt plot in Valencia. Costa has aligned himself with the thesis put forth by Bigotes in his statement as a defendant, in which he maintained that he had a good personal relationship with Camps and that it had been the former president who had insisted that he move to Valencia to work more. together.

“Yes, I have evidence from Mr. Pérez himself and also from other people that he worked with the party and with the government by decision of the president,” Costa said.. “I attest to the acts of the party, because Camps said 'I would like Álvaro to do this, I would like Álvaro to do it'”, added Costa.

“Was the relationship between Camps and Álvaro Pérez a relationship of trust and friendship?” Asked the prosecutor in the case. “I would define it as you have just described it […]. It is palpable that there was not only a personal, cordial, and friendly relationship. It was not a cold relationship and he also had a fairly fluid relationship with Mr. Camps's wife. In fact, I went with Mr. Pérez to the Camps woman's pharmacy to say hello.”

The witness explained that Bigotes had access to the Palace of the Generalitat. “He had access to many people from the administration, such as several consecutive vice presidents, apart from Camps himself and other advisers. There was an access with direct private telephones of course”.

The trial focuses on the award of a Fitur stand to Orange Market, one of the companies in the Gürtel plot. According to the Anti-Corruption indictment, Camps was behind this being the beneficiary company, which justifies the request for two and a half years in prison for the former regional president.

Costa has declared that he has “no doubt” that Camps was aware that it was Orange Market that had been organizing that event for years. But he has not been resounding about whether the president gave indications that Orange Market should be the winner. Nor with respect to other awards to the Gürtel company such as the broadcast of the Pope's visit or the Tennis Open. “Ugh, I can't…. I have never been part of the Government and I do not know what procedures were followed”.

He added that when he proposed that another company work for the party, the then vice-president Víctor Campos replied that “the instructions” he had were “that the party's acts be carried out by Álvaro Pérez.”

Costa was sentenced to four years in prison in the trial for the illegal financing of the Valencian PP. Upon reaching his statement by videoconference aided by a crutch, Costa recalled his decision to “tell the truth” when his “family situation” allowed him to.. In the financing trial, Costa has already implicated the former president.

Costa did not go to prison because his sentence was replaced by a fine. The former counselor Milagrosa Martínez did go to jail, who also appeared this Tuesday as a witness in the trial against Francisco Camps.