Diego Tavero I Sevilla, (EFE) expenses, together with the appeal of the Prosecutor’s Office to the jury to apply “common sense” and the defense that it is not a “moral judgment”.
For six days, the former director of the Faffe, Fernando Villén, and the financial economic director, Ana Valls, have been tried in room 7 of the Seville Court. A court chaired by Judge Mercedes Alaya and through which dozens of witnesses requested by the parties have filed.
The defense of the accused has made, throughout the trial, great emphasis on the fact that the jury must be based on legal considerations. And in the evidence provided by the prosecution and not enter into a “moral trial.” While the Public Ministry has appealed to “common sense” to make a decision on the defendants.
After the days of the trial ended last Tuesday, the Court will address the object of the verdict. Document in which Judge Alaya must include guides and questions that guide the members of the jury, five women and four men, in her deliberations.
money back
Villén, who is facing a request for six years in prison for a crime of embezzlement and falsification of a public document, has acknowledged before the jury that he paid a total of 32,556 euros from the Faffe card in five Andalusian brothels. But that the money was returned “in all cases.”
The prosecutor, Fernando Soto, described this case as “corruption.” Since Villén “spent” 32,566 euros in at least ten visits to “brothels, mainly in Seville and also in Cádiz.” Like the locals Don Ángelo, La Casita, American Show Girls or Bahía 2 using cards from the entity he presided over to pay their expenses.
“I always and in any case returned the money,” Villén declared on the first day. Who justified the returns in the Faffe box for “not alarming” his family, since his wife had access to her bank accounts.
For his part, Valls said that he learned “through the press” that Villén had used the public entity’s card to pay for expenses in brothels. Reason why he suffered a “great embarrassment”. And that as head of accounting “never” would have allowed a personal expense to affect the accounts of the Faffe.
The financial director denied that she knew the facts. And that he did nothing to report it, as the Prosecutor’s Office stated based on the UCO report. Whose representative declared that the defendants created a “dynamic” consisting of generating “accounting entries” that reflected a return.
Spending at the Don Angelo club
The UCO considers that there were “no invoices, no receipt or anything similar” so it was an operation “orchestrated” by both with the “moment to hide” payments with Faffe cards in brothels.
The cost of 14,737 euros in one night at the Club Don Ángelo in Seville has played a special role. A brothel that no longer exists and about which a large part of the interrogations have circulated.
According to the Public Ministry, the night of March 22, 2010 at Don Ángelo was an example of spending public money on “prostitutes, orgies, and festivals.” As defined by the prosecutor, Villén’s expenditures in these premises, at least on a dozen occasions during eight years.
That night, Villén’s driver, according to his confession, left his boss in the surroundings of this hostess club. And he picked him up at dawn to take him to his house in San Fernando (Cádiz). The next day, Villén asked him to take the owner of Don Ángelo an envelope with 14,735 euros, the amount spent that night and included in fifteen notes.
The former general director of the FAFFE confessed that the money had been lent to him by a friend. And the Prosecutor’s Office maintains that Ana Valls took out a check for 6,300 euros, one day after her deputy, Rafael Martín Reyes, asked to cancel the card that was used. With the aim of “simulating” a charge that actually tried to make up part of the money spent by Villén.
Food at the April fair
These arguments of the Prosecutor’s Office are for the defense “mere conjectures”. Therefore, it has presented numerous testimonies from auditors who affirm that no mismatch was observed in the Foundation’s accounts. Although one of them acknowledged that their favorable reports and the irregularities detected by the UCO were “compatible”.
Adolfo Cuéllar, defender of Villén, and Manuel Salinero, of Ana Valls, have made an effort to convince the jury that everything is based on “speculations” of the UCO. And especially in remarking that “there was no impairment” of public funds. Because, according to his version, all the money spent is returned.
The Civil Guard report maintains that the invoice of 2,514 euros for the food from the April Fair of 2008 is false. And that in reality it was 514, so the remaining 2,000 euros ‘fattened’ it to be able to compensate Villén’s expenses in hostess clubs. Something that the defense has tried to dismantle with testimonies such as the “cassette player” Jaime de la Escalera, who ended up confessing that he was paid by UGT.
The ‘casetero’ insisted that he did not remember having made the invoice in the name of the FAFFE -as it appeared on the one the prosecutor showed him-. Because this institution was not a provider. And that all the invoices were presented to the union, which was the one that indicated “the concepts” that he should collect.
The “theft” of the card
Probably the expression “I don’t remember” was the most used by the witnesses. That they shielded themselves in the time elapsed since the events occurred. But the testimony of the deputy to the economic and financial direction drew special attention.
Martín Reyes notified the bank of the “theft” of a card from this institution used by Villén, with which he paid in hostess clubs. But he declared that he did not remember anything, despite the fact that during the trial he showed as evidence an audio recording of his conversation with the bank employee. At least he recognized that it was his voice.
The trial ends with some unanswered questions. Fernando Seco recalled one of the most interesting: who accompanied Villén in the “party” of Don Ángelo, since the main defendant has not told. If there was any hope that the owner of the hostess club, José Ruiz, would tell it, it could not be either, since he was not located. EFE