Ximo Puig, surrounded by payments without a contract to his brother

The payments without a contract that Francis Puig's company received from the City Council of Morella (Castellón) reach the period in which his brother Ximo Puig was mayor of this town, which directly compromises the president of the Generalitat Valenciana and forces him to offer detailed explanations before the suspicion of nepotism, one of the worst forms of corruption. As EL MUNDO reveals today, the Consistory issued at least 57 invoices to Comunicacions dels Ports, a company of which Franc

is Puig was executive director, in concept of advertisements of the municipality for a total amount that is around 15,000 euros in 2010, 2011 and 2012, when Ximo Puig was still mayor

. This turnover opened the door to a much higher amount. Specifically, as stated in the complaint of the PP before the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, 629 invoices and 408,000 euros to the companies of Francis Puig between 2015 and 2023, the eight years that his brother has been at the head of the Valencian Government. The continuity in time of these invoices, on which the current City Council acknowledges that it has no contract, indicates a repeated willingness to take advantage of minor contracts to omit the bidding procedure, which would be an unacceptable fraud.

Francis Puig, who runs a local media network that in 2018 billed half a million euros, is already

. The Court of Valencia has closed the investigation for an alleged fraud in subsidies, and the High Court of Justice of this community has ratified the sanction of Competition for forming a "cartel" with three other companies to win tenders of the À Punt channel. Even so, it has continued to access public aid because the Treasury has not prevented it.

The information we provide today represents a qualitative leap insofar as it directly concerns Ximo Puig. The Law on Public Sector Contracts, reformed in 2019, protects as minor contracts those of less than 15,000 euros when they correspond to services.

. It is a procedure designed to adopt agreements with agility that, as in the case of Francis Puig, cannot lead to abusive use to the detriment of transparency, publicity and free competition.

Ximo Puig

. It has been accredited a way of proceeding thanks to which Francis Puig expanded his business as his brother's political career ascended. The socialist came to the presidency championing the regeneration after the long mandate of the PP. The alleged irregularities in Morella put this commitment seriously in question.