The Gürtel Mustaches gets his first permit to get out of prison after six years in prison
One of the best-known faces of the Gürtel plot, Álvaro Pérez, the Mustache, has obtained permission from the National Court to leave Valdemoro prison in Madrid for a few days where he is serving a sentence for corruption. He will not finish settling his accounts with Justice until the year 2036, but the Central Court of Penitentiary Surveillance appreciates in him a positive evolution behind bars. According to the judicial order to which El Confidencial has had access, he is the president of his unit and works in the garden managed by the prisoners..
Álvaro Pérez signed a text on March 10 in which he expressed his willingness to face the fines imposed by the Justice and to collaborate with the courts: “This is my will in accordance with my conduct of repentance after spending six years deprived of liberty. Proof of this behavior is the collaboration with the Justice that I have been developing for a long time in various pieces by Gürtel”.
Pablo Crespo, Luis Bárcenas, Francisco Correa and now Álvaro Pérez, the Mustache. Little by little, the main actors in the corrupt network that marked an era in the recent history of the courts and politics are leaving prison, either with ordinary release permits, with third degrees or thanks to prison benefits included in the law.. The clarification of his activities put the PP against the ropes and the sentence on the first period of Gürtel in 2018 caused the motion of censure that removed Mariano Rajoy from the Government and promoted the socialist Pedro Sánchez to Moncloa.
The prosecution is in favor
Álvaro Pérez has received the go-ahead to be released from prison for seven days. He has the right to request a total of 36 days a year outside the prison because he has already served a quarter of his sentence and is classified in the second degree, the most common in prisons.. To do this, you must have the approval of the authorities.. El Bigotes requested two permits and was denied by the prison Treatment Board, but now the National Court has agreed with him. The Prosecutor's Office was also in favor of leaving. It will be the prisoner himself who decides when he enjoys them.
This businessman who organized electoral events for the PP is convicted of embezzlement, bribery, falsification of public documents, illicit association and influence peddling, among other crimes. In the trial that put the former president of the Valencian Generalitat Francisco Camps on the bench in 2012 for having received suits as a gift from the plot, some judicial interventions were issued in the case. In one of them, Bigotes could be heard dedicating expressions such as “I love you very much” to the popular leader. “Me more”, corresponded Camps.
The National Court accumulated the sentences of Álvaro Pérez and imposed a maximum of 18 years in prison. Half of his sentence will be served in 2026. “During all the time he has been in prison -says the order- he has not had any sanction, on the contrary, he has been awarded many rewards. Now he works in the various manipulated workshop (orchards). Likewise, he has taken different courses throughout his stay in prison: cook, painter, food handler, restorative dialogues. In the module, he has been serving as president since 2019, cooperating exceptionally for a long time”.
The central judge of Penitentiary Surveillance, José Luis Castro Antonio, maintains that the risk of repeating the crimes is low, since the events for which he was convicted happened a long time ago and the context in which they occurred no longer exists.. The order highlights that Bigotes “recognizes a certain desire for profit, stating that these crimes are the consequence of a lifestyle and are implicit in the world where he lived”. He adds that in one of the sentences handed down by the National Court it is recognized that he has confessed the facts.
El Bigotes declared in February in the trial that is being followed in the National Court against Camps for the alleged irregularities in the award to Orange Market, one of the companies of the Gürtel plot, of the contract for the Valencian exhibitor of the Fitur 2009 edition. He pointed to the former leader of the PP as the person responsible for introducing the plot in the autonomous community. “I asked Paco Camps to help me and he helped me,” he said..
Regarding the payment of the responsibility derived from its activities, Bigotes has already settled its debt with the Valencian Generalitat, despite its adjusted economic situation. In another of the cases, Álvaro Pérez has initiated a partial payment that the judge describes as “undoubtedly insufficient, but which, in view of the circumstances of the prisoner, allows for voluntary compliance”. “The situation of the inmate does not allow us to verify the availability of economic means that would allow a reparation of funds, as has happened with other convicted in this case,” says the resolution issued this Monday..
Once you have obtained your first permit, it is foreseeable that you will begin to enjoy outings periodically. In fact, the prison Treatment Board, which months ago denied his request, has recently given the go-ahead to another 10 days based on his evolution..