Valencia (EFE) delegate and not him.
Rus is facing his first trial for the different pieces of the Imelsa case, in which the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office demands for him and two of his closest collaborators a sentence of 12 years in prison for belonging to a criminal organization, embezzlement, prevarication and falsehood.
During his statement in the trial, in which the irregular hiring of workers in the public companies Imelsa and Ciegsa is being investigated, Rus has only responded to his lawyer’s questions, in a statement that lasted just over 20 minutes.
He has said that he “never” ordered that Miguel Angel Mullor, a footballer for the Olímpic de Xàtiva, a club chaired by Rus, be hired; nor Eva Luisa Sarrion, a housewife and unemployed with economic problems, a native of Xàtiva, nor Ángel Ramón Sanchís, a personal friend of Rus and unemployed ».
All of them are accused in this piece for having been hired in Imelsa by order of Alfonso Rus, knowing that they were not going to do any work. Both Mullor and Sarrión have acknowledged the facts during the trial.
The former mayor of Xàtiva has affirmed that during the years that he presided over the Valencia Provincial Council, between 2007 and 2015, he worked from 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and those who worked with him, or worked with him “or on the street.”
He explained that the position of president of the Provincial Council implies being also president of the board of directors of public companies, such as Imelsa, but he said that all his powers were assigned to the responsible deputy.
Rus and Marcos Benavent
Regarding the former manager of Imelsa Marcos Benavent, also accused in the case, Rus has affirmed that he was appointed by the board of directors of the company at the proposal of the PP, and has defended that he was “a phenomenon” to which “even the opposition made the wave”.
He has indicated that on December 22, 2014 at a group dinner, Benavent told him that he wanted to leave office because “he was feeling unwell and was overwhelmed”, and asked him to fire him so that he could collect the dismissal and unemployment.
“I told him no,” explained the former head of the Provincial Council, who also pointed out that when the new manager arrived he reported some irregularities and Rus told him to act, but he specified that it was not he who decided how to act, but rather was the responsibility of the responsible deputy.
Contracts and appointments
Rus has highlighted that when he arrived at the provincial institution he reduced the amount to be able to contract directly from 200,000 to 50,000 euros, and on an invoice of 49,900 euros for a service not performed in Llutxet, he has said that it was sent to the Prosecutor’s Office.
Regarding the hiring of soccer player Miguel Angel Mullor, he said that it was he who signed him for Olímpic, a team in which, according to what he said, everything was paid for by the bank. “They will have to prove that about the envelopes,” he stated.
On whether he asked him to hire people at Ciegsa, a company dependent on the Ministry of Education, he pointed out that he had no decision-making capacity in this body, and pointed out that he could have recommended someone if they needed people, but then it has to happen the necessary processes.
After Alfonso Rus, his former chief of staff Emilio Llopis has declared, for whom 12 years in prison are also requested, who has said that he never gave an order to hire anyone because it does not fall within his powers.
Likewise, he has said that the advisers carry out field work, so they do not have to be in a specific workplace but where the advisers tell them, and he has indicated that no one controlled the advisers’ hours.