SILVIA MORENO Seville
Seville
Updated Monday, January 29, 2024-13:28
Interview Roberto Macías: "The time has come for the union to sit on the bench and return the money"
The former Andalusian leadership of UGT on the bench: up to 26 years in prison and a 200 million fine
Those on trial for the alleged plot designed by the Andalusian federation of UGT to divert subsidies amounting to 40.7 million euros are trying to overthrow the corruption case
that
has put them in the dock in the trial that began this Monday in the Court of Seville.
The lawyers of several defendants have agreed in requesting the
annulment
of the case, since during the investigation of this case, from their point of view, the violation of several fundamental rights of their clients, such as the right of defense and the secrecy of communications, among others. For
Luis López de Castro
, lawyer for the former UGT-A treasurer on trial, the investigation of this case was an
"inquisitorial process"
in which there were searches "without reason or justification", even though this matter was nothing related to "
terrorism
, white slave trafficking, arms or drug trafficking."
Likewise, the defense lawyers are trying to discredit all the judicial investigations into the alleged union plot that looted subsidies intended to train the unemployed due to the origin of the case, which focuses on
Roberto Macías
, the former UGT-A worker who uncovered the fraud.
Roberto Macías has been sentenced to one year in prison for revealing secrets, after disseminating documents on the union's internal accounting to the media. This conviction determines - according to the defense lawyers - that the entire 'UGT-A case' and the investigations into the diversion of million-dollar subsidies have an "illicit origin" and, therefore, there is a "
domino effect"
on the entire the cause that would invalidate it.
Now, the court of the Third Section of the Seville Court must decide on these previous questions raised by the defenders.
Since this Monday, the Court is trying the former general secretary of UGT-A
Francisco Fernández Sevilla
, the former union treasurer Federico Fresneda and three other former leaders linked to the former leadership of the union. Also sitting on the bench are
ten
representatives of the companies that served as
suppliers
to the union and that, supposedly, collaborated in the preparation of false invoices, necessary to perpetrate the fraud and deceive the Junta de Andalucía.
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office has requested
26 years in prison and a 200 million fine
for the four former members of the former leadership of UGT Andalusia for the diversion of millions in subsidies that it used to finance itself irregularly through an alleged scheme of
false invoices and fictitious rentals
of classrooms where training courses were taught between the years 2009 to 2013.