The keys to the Isofotón case, the cause of alleged corruption that sparks the governments of Chaves, Griñán and Susana Díaz

• The origin: Workers alerted Judge Alaya about the mismanagement of Isofoton

• The crisis. Asian offers for an Isofoton that was a world leader and now nobody wants

• The investigation: The Police detect irregularities in the aid of the Board to Isofoton

As of next October 15

, the 40 investigated -37 of them former senior officials and former directors of the Junta de Andalucía of the PSOE stage- will

begin to testify before the head of the Court of Instruction 3 of Seville,

, for the case of alleged corruption of Isofoton, the Malaga photovoltaic company that closed after receiving more than

of Andalusian public funds.

Below are the keys to a case that splashes on the governments headed by Manuel Chaves, José Antonio Griñán -both already condemned by the ERE- and Susana Díaz, the general secretary of the PSOE of Andalusia.

What is being investigated?

The investigating judge Patricia Fernández Franco, with the help of the Money Laundering and Anticorruption Group,

, the National Police and the

are investigating whether, after the millionaire injections of public funds by the Board in the stage of the PSOE governments in the Isofoton company, there are alleged crimes of embezzlement of public funds, prevarication and documentary falsification.

It is investigated if the public aid had the authorizations and mandatory procedures, if the budget allocation limit of the IDEA Agency loans of the Board was exceeded and "if, indeed, they had been granted regardless of the correct channels", specifies the judge in a car.

Chaves, during a visit to the Isofotón plant in Malaga with the then director Vallejo y Manzano, general director of the company.

What is Isofoton?

It was a photovoltaic energy company created in 1981 that became a

in solar technology.

It was located in the Andalusian Technology Park (PTA) in Malaga and was dedicated to the generation of photovoltaic panels.

It received funds from the Board, through the Society for the Promotion and Economic Reconversion of Andalusia, Soprea, and the

.

There is a milestone in the company.

It was on June 28, 2010, when the shares were sold to Affirma Energy Engineering & Technology, which acquired 80%, and to Top Tec, which acquired 20%, all

, "at appear to be due to the delicate financial situation that society was going through ", explain the UDEF researchers in their statement.

Despite this, it continued to receive public funds.

The company filed

on June 4, 2013 and is currently in the liquidation phase.

In 2013, the company processed an ERE that affected the entire workforce that it had then: 297 workers.

Isofoton had up to

in the highest production peaks and took its products to 60 countries.

Starting in 2009, there were massive layoffs and a debt that reached 320 million accumulated.

How much public money did you receive?

The company received

of public funds from the Board between 2005 and 2012 through guarantees and direct incentives and non-

funds.

At that stage, the presidents of the Andalusian Government were Manuel Chaves -in office between July 1990 and April 2009- and José Antonio Griñán -between April 2009 and September 2013-.

However, the period investigated by the judge ranges from 2010 to 2012, all in the Griñán stage.

In fact,

several times in the police report, but the investigating judge, for the moment, has not called him to testify either as an investigator or as a witness.

Why does this case splash the Government of Susana Díaz?

With Susana Díaz as president of the Board -between September 2013 and January 2019-, the Andalusian Administration did not grant new aid to Isofoton, but

of the previous stages.

In fact, in 2016, the IDEA Agency wrote a report for the court case that is riddled with "

and irregularities."

The UDEF investigators interpret this report as "a

in a matter certainly of interpretative complexity."

Once the judicial investigation began, those responsible for IDEA in 2016, with Susana Díaz as Chairman of the Board, "despite being different in some cases from those who granted the aid and

, made a biased interpretation of the applicable regulations, hiding at all times the true nature of the aid granted, which at that time they had to know were irregular, "the statement warns.

"The

carried out tend to hide this nature precisely and in the report, at no time, does it mention that the aid is for the rescue of companies in crisis, as it has been justified that they actually were", adds the police report.

The investigators maintain that the report is "false" and "omits" the applicable regulations in the guarantees granted to Isofoton to accommodate the story to "the interests of IDEA, as a collaborator in the investigated fraud."

For the UDEF, the granting of aid to Isofoton by the Board is "a

to commit a prevarication and embezzlement of public funds. The regulations would have been adapted as convenient to avoid, precisely, the application of the regulations that truly the situation ruled. "

Who is listed as investigated?

There are forty people as investigated -before accused-, among which are four former councilors of the Board:

-already sentenced to 7 years in prison in the 'ERE case' and also investigated in the Invercaria corruption case-,

-also accused in the court case on the alleged fraud of the training courses-.

In the 'Isofoton case' two other former high-ranking officials of the Board involved in the macrocause of corruption against Invercaria, the Board's venture capital company that distributed millionaire funds without control, are called as investigated.

They are Felipe González's nephew:

and

.

Both were presidents of Invercaria and directors of IDEA.

On the list of defendants in the Isofotón case there are also three former deputy counselors:

.

The first two have been convicted in the ERE case, although the sentence is being appealed before the Supreme Court.

Nieto Ballesteros, after his time in high office, was booked by the training courses company linked to the former 'number 2' of the Andalusian PSOE

, subsidized by the Board and investigated for training fraud.

In addition, the instructor has cited as investigated the former directors of IDEA

, the former head of the legal cabinet of the Board

-who was one of the only three acquitted by the ERE case- , the former president of El Monte

, as well as those "responsible for the business network that benefits from irregular public aid": the brothers

.

On July 24, the investigating judge issued an order calling for the 40 investigated and five IDEA technicians to testify as witnesses.

They are scheduled in a staggered manner from October 15 until November 24.

How does it affect Vice President Ribera?

The current fourth vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, was working at Isofoton between September 2012 and May 2013 as general director of Strategic Development and New International Markets.

He was a star signing of Isofotón, who turned to the then former Secretary of State for Climate Change in the Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to "consolidate its position in emerging markets and strengthen its commitment to green and environmentally friendly growth" , as the Malaga company said in September 2012.

"At this time, in which the sector is immersed in a transformation process, it is a priority to reinforce the areas of our company with professionals who know the international market and have environmental protection as the basis of all actions," said the Then president of Isofotón,

, after incorporating Ribera into the company.

Serrano is on the list of 40 defendants called to testify by the judge.

However, the vice president

.

During the period in which the vice president was in Isofoton, the Malaga company did not receive any public aid.

The latest is the 8.3 million loan granted on August 10, 2012. Ribera disembarked in Isofoton a month later.

In the official curriculum of the vice president posted on the

of the Presidency of the Government there is no mention of her brief passage through Isofoton.

What is the origin of this case?

The investigation is based on the complaint filed by the Isofoton works council on February 10, 2014 before the judge who was then instructing the ERE case: Mercedes Alaya.

The magistrate deduced testimony, seeing evidence of crime, and the case was distributed.

It fell to the Court of Instruction 3 of Seville, which opened preliminary proceedings 3268/2015 in 2015.

The Isofoton workers alerted in their complaint that the Board was injecting millionaire funds into the company, but that the closure of the company and the dismissal of employees had not been avoided.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• Manuel Chaves

• Jose Antonio Griñán

• PSOE

• Malaga

• Corruption

• Andalusia

• Teresa Ribera

SpainThe mayors stand again before the Treasury and demand to manage 20,000 million of European funds

Courts The TSJA guarantees that Judge Núñez does not instruct the macro-causes of corruption of the PSOE

Environment Seven years without aid for the Andalusian mountains and more than 50,000 hectares devastated by fire

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