Seville (EFE) 2.5 million received from the Ministry of Industry.
The order, to which EFE has had access, argues that Francisco Serrano and his former partners Enrique Pelegrín and Francisco Javier López agreed in 2016 to obtain, “without having due solvency”, a loan of almost 2.5 million that was allocated to purposes other than those set, which were the construction of a pellet factory in the Huelva town of Niebla.
At present, only the main warehouse has been executed, for half a million euros, and the office building, for 142,600 euros, according to the report of the town council.
A pellet factory
The judge understands that of the 2,489,000 euros paid by the Ministry of Industry for the installation of a pellet factory in accordance with the authorized items, only the figure of 544,316 euros is in accordance with the project.
He has noted that those investigated established the company because they knew the importance of offering “an image of solvency” before the Ministry of Industry, but the company did not conform to reality, and included “non-real own funds” that facilitated access to the state subsidy.
In order to obtain the aid, it is indicated, without being real, that three granulators and the rotary drying cycle are not necessary to buy because they already have it, and that the land where it will be built was ceded by the Niebla City Council under an administrative concession of soil of 30 years.
Investment fund
The judge points out that once he received the aid “it was no longer necessary to maintain the appearance” and in the following days “the provisions for purposes not included” in the annex begin, as is the case of several transfers to the businessman Manuel Gavira Gómez and they knew that the money was going to be used to pay debts of the borrower’s companies.
1.3 million were also allocated to the constitution of an investment fund that served as a guarantee for a bank to provide a guarantee to ensure the aid, among other procedures that did not correspond to the objectives of the subsidy.
Indications of crimes of fraud and fraud
The judge considers that “rational indications” of a crime of subsidy fraud and a crime of fraud appear, and that “sufficient reasons” are evidenced to attribute them to the three defendants.
On the other hand, it has filed the case against a notary who participated in the operation to receive the subsidy, since “the commission of any crime is not duly justified.”
The investigation began after the general secretary of Facua, Rubén Sánchez, filed a complaint with the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) of the National Police. EFE
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