A witness with a direct political link to the accused
Esperanza Aguirre, a long-standing Popular Party figure and former head of the Community of Madrid, is scheduled to give evidence as a witness this Thursday in the Lezo case trial. The proceedings concern her successor in office, Ignacio González, and alleged irregularities in the award of two public contracts by the Canal de Isabel II connected to a golf course run by that public body.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5]
The case had political consequences in 2017, when Aguirre stepped down as the party's spokesperson and as a Madrid city councillor following González's arrest. González had served as her deputy during her years leading the regional government between 2003 and 2012.[S1]
Who else is in the dock
Alongside González, the trial of this strand of the Lezo case has in the dock Ildefonso de Miguel, who ran the Canal de Isabel II as managing director between 2003 and 2009, and the partners of TCT, the company that received the contested awards: José Antonio Clemente, Pablo Manuel González and Juan José Caballero. The last two are respectively the brother and the brother-in-law of the former regional president.[S1]
When the trial opened on Tuesday with preliminary issues, González and the remaining defendants rejected the allegations against them. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office is seeking six-year prison terms for all of them, as alleged perpetrators of bribery and as necessary cooperators in the same offences, together with a fine of 550,000 euros.[S1]
How the contracts were awarded
According to the prosecutor's provisional conclusions, the background dates to 2002, when the Canal de Isabel II, then dependent on the Community of Madrid, signed an urban planning agreement with Madrid city council to open various canal facilities to public use. A tender was called for the project to build the roof of the canal's third reservoir.[S1]
In June 2004, the canal's leadership, held by Ildefonso de Miguel and by González as regional vice-president, is said to have pushed through and eased the processing of an amendment to that tender in order to favour the latter's relatives, even though the substantial changes should have required a fresh call for bids. The prosecutor maintains that they agreed with Dragados that the canal would award it the amended contract directly, on condition that it subcontract certain works to Tecnoconcret Proyectos de Ingeniería, known commercially as TCT, whose partners were Clemente and González's brother and brother-in-law.[S1]
Understand this article deeper
The relatives are accused of concealing their ownership through nominees so as to hide their family ties to the regional president. The direct approval and award of the amendment to Dragados took place at the canal's board meeting on 19 July 2006, after interventions by González and de Miguel. The prosecutor argues that the defendants' joint action allowed TCT, a firm without the technical capacity for any of the works entrusted to it, to insert itself unnecessarily and profit improperly from both awards, gaining at least 504,780 euros financed with public funds assigned to those contracts.[S1]
The golf works and the alleged commissions
On 15 June 2006, before the amendment was formally awarded, Dragados subcontracted TCT for certain works, claiming its bid had been the most advantageous in a tender. The prosecutor states that TCT's partners had privately agreed with Dragados's managers to raise the amount to be charged by 47%. That day Dragados signed with TCT a contract worth 160,204.79 euros for a test hole number four on the golf course.[S1]
The scope was later extended by four annexes dated 10 August, 15 and 24 November 2006 and 14 February 2007, for 2,292,232.82, 298,830.24, 286,270.58 and 30,326.40 euros respectively. The total value of the works Dragados subcontracted to TCT thus came to 3,067,864.83 euros. The prosecutor notes that TCT was incorporated in May 2003 as an engineering firm and only in 2008 added sports projects, yet lacked any capacity to carry out the works covered by the amendment.[S1]
Because the defendants could not perform those sports works, they subcontracted them in turn to Onlygolf Planning and Design and Fieldturf España, agreeing with those firms to take an 8% commission for their intermediation. Fieldturf issued three invoices to TCT totalling 270,204 euros and Onlygolf issued eleven invoices totalling 2,605,805 euros, while TCT issued thirteen invoices to Dragados for 3,257,039 euros, in succession and correspondence with the fourteen invoices from Onlygolf and Fieldturf to TCT for 2,876,010.16 euros, yielding a gain of 381,029 euros for its unnecessary and imposed intermediation.[S1]
The prosecutor states that between November 2006 and March 2008, in a pre-crisis economic setting, the defendants shared out part of the profits under a fully documented plan. González's brother, concealed under the initials PG, is said to have received 101,348 euros.[S1]
