Canal Nou workers carry on regardless as liquidators barred from building take legal action

ORDERS by the Valencia regional government to take Canal Nou and Ràdio Nou off air now that the closure of Radio TV Valenciana (RTVV) has become official have fallen on deaf ears – at least 40 workers in the studio have refused to leave the building and are broadcasting via a different frequency.

And Canal Nou (Channel 9) has continued to show programmes throughout the night and attempts have been made to prevent the liquidators from entering the control room to disconnect the cables and take the TV station off air.

Staff were allowed to enter in twos yesterday (Thursday) evening to collect their belongings, but faced with the multiple rebellion, police have been stopping them getting in since.

However, at around 02.00hrs, a number of employees managed to dodge the barriers and get back into their old workplace.

They have all been told via email that their job contracts have now ceased, but this has not stopped them going to work at the start of their usual shifts.

The overnight presenter on Canal Nou says no formal instructions were given to cease broadcasting, hence the team has continued to do so.

Some time around 04.15hrs this morning, head of security at RTVV met with the chief of police and the chairman of the committee for the company.

Vice-chairwoman Salut Alcover says that if the regional government has not taken the show off air yet, it is because they \’do not even know how to cut a cable\’.

“And if they don\’t even know how to cut through a wire, how are they supposed to govern the region of Valencia?” She wondered.

In a last-ditch attempt to force workers\’ hands and cease broadcasting, the three members of the liquidation committee have presented emergency court action against staff for \’illegal occupation\’ of the building, but the judge has not admitted the complaint.

A mass demonstration outside the regional government headquarters has been planned by RTVV\’s board of directors for 11.00hrs today (Friday) to condemn the closure of the radio and TV station, and at noon, another protest over unpaid wages will take place.

By: ThinkSpain , Friday, November 29, 2013

via Canal Nou workers carry on regardless as liquidators barred from building take legal action.

Ex-Castellón chief Fabra sentenced to four years for tax fraud

Provincial court convicts Popular Party veteran on four charges worth 700,000 euros

LORENA ORTEGA Castellón 25 NOV 2013 – 14:54 CET

Carlos Fabra, the former chief of Castellón province who became famous for building a planeless airport featuring a large statue in his honor, has been sentenced to four years in prison for tax fraud.

The anticorruption public prosecutor had requested an eight-year jail sentence for the Popular Party (PP) politician on four counts against him related with his not declaring income of almost two million euros to the tax office between 1999 and 2004 – a fraud worth almost 700,000 euros.

The Castellón provincial court absolved him of two other charges of influence peddling and bribery.

Fabra’s ex-wife was also sentenced to two years in prison on two other tax fraud charges.

The sentence is the culmination of a 10-year investigation into the man who headed the provincial council of Castellón, part of the Valencia region, between 1995 and 2011.

In the last session of the trial in October, the public prosecutor considered Fabra’s responsibility proven and emphasized the accusations of tax fraud: “He is not just any fraudster, he was president of the provincial council and while he demanded taxes he was committing fraud in the background.”

The sentence, which was made known on Monday, absolved the businessman who reported Fabra and his ex-wife of crimes of influence peddling and bribery. The ex-senator Miguel Prim, also charged with influenced peddling, was similarly cleared.

via Ex-Castellón chief Fabra sentenced to four years for tax fraud | In English | EL PAÍS.

Castellón airport needs a further three million euros to open

LORENA ORTEGA Castellón 8 NOV 2013 – 19:47 CET

The airport in Castellón — which has become notorious both at home and abroad for never having received a single plane — will require a minimum additional investment of three million euros before it will receive the authorization and permission it needs to open. That’s according to the conditions included in the tender published this week by the Valencia regional government for companies interested in the commercial exploitation and maintenance of the airport.

The baggage hall at Castellón airport, which has yet to receive any flights since it was inaugurated in 2011. / ÁNGEL SÁNCHEZ

The regional government has budgeted 25 million euros for the management of the airport over the next 20 years. But before the planes finally arrive, the region will have to finalize the documentation needed for the State Air Safety Agency (AESA) to certify that the airport complies with all of the requirements for operation. The airport is still lacking equipment and infrastructure, such as computer systems and software, the cost of which has been estimated at three million euros.

The government has decided that the company that wins the tender will have to assume this new cost. The public company Aerocas, which was set up to manage the airport project, will assume any cost overruns from the installation of the required equipment and infrastructure, according to the government documentation, “providing that it can be irrefutably proven that the planned investment of three million euros has been made.”

Former provincial leader Carlos Fabra — who is currently involved in a court case on accusations of corruption — inaugurated the airport back in March 2011. But at the time, the application for the certification process had not even begun. The time frame forecast for obtaining all of the necessary permits was six months, but the lack of proper documentation presented by the former managing company and the need to carry out further work on the airport — such as the lengthening of the runway — meant long delays.

The former managing company, Conaer, was supposed to have taken care of the certification of the airport. But a court case that saw Aerocas obliged to pay out 120 million euros for the additional work on the airport was symptomatic of Conaer’s slovenliness.

Aerocas publicly complained about the failure of Conaer to respect its commitments, not only for having left much of the work uncompleted but also because of its failure to present the documentation required.

But even after Aerocas broke off relations with the former managing company, it failed to complete the certification process. If the new tender is successful, the airport still won’t be ready to open until next year, given that the process of securing the certification will take around six months.

The details of the tender also explain that Aerocas will assume the costs of structural elements, such as repairs to the terminal. The successful managing company will then be able to choose between charging the regional government a maximum of 25 million euros over 10 years, independently of the passenger traffic achieved, or a payment system based on the number of people who arrive and leave from the airport.

The regional government opted for a new tender in the summer, after a failed attempt to sell the airport and after commissioning a new viability study.

via: Castellón airport needs a further three million euros to open | In English | EL PAÍS.