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The Civil Guard maintains that the former Catalan president Artur Mas "intermediated" in favor of the builder Jordi Soler , owner of the Soler Group and accused of being one of the main payers of commissions to Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC). His role was, according to the researchers, to use his "political influence" to get contracts from the Generalitat and other administrations governed by his party.
The Judicial Police Unit has examined the documentation seized from the businessman last April and has informed the judge of the National Court José de la Mata that he has found numerous communications and meetings between Soler and Mas that links with the adjustment of public tenders. It also states that the construction company has deleted thousands of emails since "there was some interest in preventing information about them."
The electronic agenda of the entrepreneur Soler reflects an entry dated June 14, 2013 in which he says that "SB", whom the Civil Guard identifies as Sebastián Blázquez , general director of the Soler Group, will provide "a report for Artur More". And he adds that «JC», in reference to Jaume Cardona , also a director of the construction company, should do the same with another report, but this time, for the right hand of the former president, Germá Gordó . Investigators presume that it was documentation linked to public tenders that the construction company had attended and that Soler handed over to politicians.
In turn, numerous references to lunch, dinner and meetings between Soler and Mas have been discovered during the period between 2009 and 2016. Some of these meetings, according to Soler's agenda, the former president attended with his wife. To cite some examples, the businessman reflects appointments with Mas in the Catalan restaurants La Sala and Aligué or in the Hotel Majestic as well as an appointment with the former president and his wife in the town of Rajadell .
Numerous references to meetings with Gordó have also appeared, referred to as «GG». These notes make it clear that you have to "confirm" if they are going to submit to certain competitions to influence in your favor or directly that you have to deal specifically with him tenders in the town of Terrasa . There are also quotes, such as the one scheduled in June 2012, in which it is noted that it will be delivered by "an envelope" whose content is not detailed. Soler also noted on his agenda that Oriol Pujol Ferrusola , former secretary general of CDC, with whom he was cited on numerous occasions, would "help" them after obtaining "approval to work with Red Eléctrica y Enagás ."
In a report that has just been presented by the Civil Guard before the Court of Instruction number 5 and to which EL MUNDO has had access, the researchers stress that they have been able to "verify the intrusion of political power through the CDC so that the mercantile companies that make up the Soler Group are favored ». That is to say, «they are the winners of tenders tendered by the Public Administration in which the said party» had «influence capacity». "All this in exchange for donations that the named merchants made in favor of foundations linked to CDC that acted as screen companies," he adds.
Not surprisingly, the Soler Group was in recent years the third largest donor of money to the instrumental foundations of the nationalist party. Only Catdem contributed 540,000 euros through payments cut between four companies in the group.
The company's CEO, Jordi Soler, confessed to Judge De la Mata that he paid commissions to CDC in exchange for public contracts. Soler admitted having donated more than 600,000 euros in total to the party and acknowledged that CDC had a "list" of possible winning companies that were granted prior payment of bribes. "We did not win works that we had to win for an objective and technical reason because that list existed," he explained with absolute naturalness to the stupefaction of De la Mata and prosecutor José Grinda .
"Approach to CDC"
«Technically we made very good offers but we didn't win. You had to make good deals and also be on the list, ”he continued. «To be on the list, I approached CDC and started collaborating with its foundations. Before you did not fall contests, for half a point you lost them; Then, you won them. The feeling that a list existed was blurring when we paid, ”he said while ensuring he was discreet with his payments. «In this case I did what my grandfather advised me: he said that in the Civil War when you killed a chicken you had to hide the feathers so that the neighbor did not know. Therefore, on this matter, absolute discretion, did not spread it.
In this context, the Judicial Police places Mas as one of the interlocutors in the Soler builder party to achieve, among other tenders, the rehabilitation of the Sant Pau Hospital and the maintenance of the school buildings in Barcelona; a civic center in the town of Sant Fruitós de Bages ; a primary care center in Mataró; an institute in Manresa; or the lighting of the Barcelona town of Tona .
The Civil Guard states that "the evidence analyzed" reveals the "modus operandi" of the Soler Group and shows "sequentially over time how the different competitions are substantiated." For this purpose, "scheduled appointments-meals, meetings, etc.-" were convened, reflecting in the seized material "the interlocutors and the reasons" for the meetings. But also "the roles that these people play in the criminal plot investigated." "Some of these people alternate positions in CDC and in some public administrations that govern," the report said.
The businessman who confessed bribes to CDC and gave "reports" to the president
The constructor Jordi Soler is the most important businessman of all those who have already admitted before the judge the payment of illegal commissions to CDC.
Among his payments has been discovered the trip he paid to the Generalitat to see the final of the Champions League in 2015 between Barça and Juventus . Now he analyzes the meetings he held with Mas in which, according to his files, he handed him documentation on hand about the tenders he opted for.
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