Two and a half years in prison for former Madrid councillor Francisco Granados for the Punica case

The Audiencia Nacionalhas sentenced the former President of the Community of Madrid and former Mayor of Valdemoro, FranciscoGranados , to two and a half years' imprisonment forcontinuing fraud and prevarication in thePunica case, allegedly for favouring the award of public contracts tothe festive company Waiter Music  between 2007 and 2014.

The judgment finds it proven that Granados, who was the Government Councillor of Esperanza Aguirre, "had a continued capacity to influence decision-making bodies, even though formally he did not have direct administrative powers", and obtained in exchange for this relationship compensation in kind, in particular private events paid for by businessman José Luis Huertas .

In addition, the former mayorsof Madrid Valdemoro u00A0José Carlos Boza and José Miguel Moreno  have been sentenced to four and two years' imprisonment, respectively, and the former PP senator David Erguido , who was deputy mayor and councillor of Alget, and the former mayor of Ciempozuelos, María Ángeles Herrera, and the former mayor of Alaleja de Medio , Carlos Estrada, have been sentenced to two years' imprisonment.

Between2004 and 2013, the City of Valdemoro had contracts with companies linked to Waiter Music or José Luis Huerta Valbuena, as well as the municipalities of Móstoles, San Martín de la Vega, Algete, Chinchón, Ciempozuelos, Torrejón de Velasco and Moraleja de Enmedio, all of which were governed by the PP.

According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the businessman was a friend of Granados and held contracted celebrations and even performed extraordinary services at the request of politicians, but they were not billed for the PP municipal events or party members.

Waiter Music's businessman, already deceased, made these orders "in order to continue to enjoy the favour of municipal politicians in the award of the festivities," and according to the judgment, in some cases he directly assumed the cost, while in others he "presented bills in excess of the commercial profit of the cost of the acts."

The award of the contracts took place within the sphere of influence of Granados, "in the context ofpersonal and political relations facilitating favourable decision-making  linked to indirect economic benefits for the entrepreneur ", even though the employer was not directly affected, the judgment states.

According to the judges of the National High Court, it has not been proven that the municipalities referred to in the judgement "have paid an expense that does not correspond tothe services rendered "and therefore has not imposed any civil liability on the convicted persons, thus rejecting the request made by the Adade prosecution, which claimed hundreds of thousands of euros from the accused.

With this sentence, Granadosfaces a second sentence in the Punica case, after two and a half years in pre-trial detention.