How the Popular Party sank Canal 9

Political interference, mismanagement and allegations of corruption have seen Valencia’s publicly funded TV station driven to the brink of collapse
FEDERICO SIMÓN Valencia 27 JUL 2012 – 13:16 CET1

A protest by Canal 9 employees against layoffs at the broadcaster in Valencia last week. / KAI FÖRSTERLING (EFE)

Spain’s regional governments have a lot to answer for given their role in the country’s financial crisis. Not only were regional authorities largely responsible for political interference in the local savings banks – the cajas- thus contributing to their demise, but they also ran up their own unsustainable debts, using publicly funded regional broadcasters as mere extensions of their parties’ communications departments.

In an interview in 1996, shortly after the Popular Party won its first general election, installing José María Aznar as prime minister, Eduardo Zaplana, the then-head of the regional government of Valencia, described television in Spain as “the last bastion of the Socialists.” The remedy, he continued, “is privatization, which we intend to carry out as soon as the necessary legislation has been passed.” His project was to begin with Valencia’s publicly funded regional station, Canal 9. Sixteen years later, after running up huge debts, his successor Alberto Fabra has effectively privatized the channel, laying off 76 percent of its staff, and outsourcing all program commissions.

Zaplana’s dream has finally been made possible after 16 years of mismanagement, which saw the station double its staffing levels, accumulate debts of 1.3 billion euros, and send its audience share down to 4.2 percent.

José Manuel Alcañiz was among the first 32 journalists who joined Canal 9 when it was launched in 1989. Initially appointed head of news, he says that after the Popular Party took over the regional administration of Valencia in 1995, he found himself increasingly isolated. “I was given fashion shows to cover; all the journalists were removed from any position of authority,” says Alcañiz.

Former Valencia premier called TV in Spain “last bastion of the Socialists”
Unable to sack journalists it considered politically unreliable, the new bosses at Canal 9 simply hired others to take their places: from 650 in 1995 to 1,800 in 2010. As a result, the station’s debt levels rose sharply: from 30 million euros in 1995 to 1.3 billion at the end of 2011.

With unsustainable salary costs, ever-mounting debts, and viewing figures continuing to fall, it was only a matter of time before Canal 9 would have to start laying people off. José López Jaraba – the current director general of Canal 9 owner RTVV, who was directly appointed by former regional premier Francisco Camps, forced to stand down last year over corruption allegations – told EL PAÍS that he has still not worked out who from the 1,295 members of staff to be sacked will be going, nor on what basis the remaining 400 staff members will continue to work, and quite how the outsourcing of programming will function.

When it was set up in 1989, RTVV’s brief was to provide radio and television programming in the Valencian language. Juli Esteve, who was coordinator of news services from the launch until the PP took over in 1995, says that there was no political interference under the Socialist Party government, even when news programs reported on the growing number of scandals that would eventually see the Socialists lose the general elections in 1996.

Esteve says that under the Socialist Party, RTVV was not authorized to run up debt. “Budgets were handled very carefully; after all, it was the taxpayer’s money.”

An employee who doesn’t want to give his name says that political interference began during the 1995 regional election campaign. Eduardo Zaplana, who was running for the premier’s position, demanded that only campaign events involving him could be broadcast, and he would get angry when coverage was given, for example, to Rita Barberá, who was his party’s candidate for mayor of Valencia. The source goes further, saying that Zaplana would make sure that camera operators would only shoot him from his “good side”.

All the journalists were removed from any position of authority”
Alcañiz says that when Zaplana won the elections, “Canal 9 became an extension of his communications department.” This was when the station’s costs began to mount. The in-house accounting committee questioned the fees being paid for television rights to broadcast sporting events, which were never matched by advertising revenue. RTVV even financed soccer clubs in the Valencia region, paying them twice the going rate for broadcasting rights.

When Francisco Camps took over as regional premier in 2003, he left RTVV alone. Although he was locked in a turf war with his predecessor, he managed to appoint his own people into key positions, with some senior executives moving out from RTVV to work for the regional government. Under Camps, RTVV’s news policy was simple: to sing the praises of the regional government and all it was doing for Valencia, while at the same time attacking the policies of the Socialist Party government of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The opposition was excluded from news programs, and there was a blanket ban on reporting the mounting number of corruption cases involving the PP in Valencia. Anybody who watched just Canal 9 would be unaware of any link between Camps and the Gürtel kickbacks for contracts scandal. (It should not be noted that Camps was found not guilty of corruption charges by a jury in Valencia.)

RTVV’s labor unions accuse successive PP administrations of deliberately running the broadcaster into the ground over the years with the goal of eventually selling it off. Vicente Mifsud, the head of the in-house workers’ consultative board, says that the 54 million euros that RTVV aims to save by laying off 76 percent of the workforce will be spent “on production companies who will hire workers under precarious conditions, and any profits will go to private companies with links to the PP.”

Camps and Costa found not guilty of corruption by Gürtel jury

Former Valencia PP chiefs cleared of wrongdoing over receipt of tailored suits

MARÍA FABRA / IGNACIO ZAFRA – Valencia – 25/01/2012

The nine-member jury in the corruption case against former Popular Party PP regional premier of Valencia, Francisco Camps, and his co-defendant, ex-PP secretary general in Valencia, Ricardo Costa, returned a not guilty verdict by five-to-four late on Wednesday after three days of deliberation.

Camps and Costa were accused of receiving gifts from the Gürtel network, a ring of businessmen who bribed Popular Party officials in Valencia, Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid in return for public contracts worth millions of euros. Francisco Correa, the jailed alleged ringleader of Gürtel, gave evidence in the trial against Camps and Costa.The main piece of evidence in the case were tailored suits that anti-corruption prosecutors claimed had been gifted to Camps. The former regional premier always maintained that he had paid for the suits, despite there being no record of money changing hands.In delivering its verdict, the jury said it had reached the conclusion that neither Camps nor Costa received gifts in an official capacity because of their posts and that it was not proven that the suits were paid for by members of the Gürtel ring.The jury foreman said there was “no accreditation that Camps did not pay for the clothes.” The testimony of Isabel Jordán – who was heard on tape in the court saying she had seen a 30,000-euro bill for Camps suits in a Gürtel-related companys accounts – and of José Tomás, the tailor at the center of the case, did not sway all jurors.However, the Valencia PP has not yet shed Gürtel from its back. The Valencia High Court is still investigating a wide range of crimes, including illegal party financing, bribery and corruption, in which Camps former deputy, Vicente Rambla, Costa and several other PP members are implicated.The Gürtel case broke in 2009 when High Court Judge Baltasar Garzón blew the lid on the network and anti-corruption investigators implicated Camps. Garzón is currently being tried in the Supreme Court for the use of wiretaps to monitor conversations between jailed Gürtel suspects and their lawyers.

via Camps and Costa found not guilty of corruption by Gürtel jury · ELPAÍS.com in English.

Ex-Valencia premier makes last plea of innocence

Jury to get the “suit-gate” case on Monday.

M. F. / I. Z. – Valencia – 20/01/2012

Former Valencia regional premier Francisco Camps made a final plea of innocence Friday as jurors were set to begin deliberating next week over whether he and another ex-Popular Party PP official received dress suits and other gifts from members of the Gürtel corrupt businessmens network.

“I am innocent and I have come here looking for justice from my trusting and committed fellow citizens,” Camps said after closing arguments in the case.Camps went on trial in Valencia High Court on December 12 along with former local PP secretary general Ricardo Costa. Judge Juan Climent on Monday will come up with a jury verdict form with questions the nine jurors can answer.To be found guilty, seven must vote in favor; an acquittal will only need five votes. If there is no agreement among the panel, the judge will release the jury and order a new trial. Camps and Costa face fines of up to 41,000 euros if they are found guilty.

via Ex-Valencia premier makes last plea of innocence · ELPAÍS.com in English.

Calatrava paid 15 million euros for non-existent Valencia towers

Regional government insists scheme is a useful investment; prosecutors say there is no proof of wrongdoing.

The Valencia government, then presided by the Popular Party’s (PP) Francisco Camps, who later resigned and awaits trial for his part in the Gürtel corruption scandal, paid architect Santiago Calatrava over 15 million euros for three skyscrapers near the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias that will likely never be built, the provincial court has found.

The payment was confirmed by regional government spokeswoman Lola Johnson, who justified the payments for the project as a “property asset” that can be used or sold. Prosecutors will not pursue the case, brought by deputies of Esquerra Unida, because there is no evidence of misappropriation of public funds. Johnson noted that work has been halted on the project but that “at any moment the economic situation could bring us to a point where we decide to move ahead or to sell.”

Calatrava’s office declined to comment. The court report states that the architect received an advance payment of 2.6 million euros on September 30, 2005, 137,000 euros on August 30, 2006 for models and plans of the towers, and two later payments of 6.2 million euros each for pre-project and drafting work, a total of 15.2 million. The Socialist regional spokeswoman for infrastructure, Eva Martínez, asked current PP regional premier Alberto Fabra to begin legal proceedings to recover the money from Calatrava.

JOAQUÍN FERRANDIS – Valencia – 09/11/2011

via Calatrava was paid 15 million euros for non-existent Valencia towers · ELPAÍS.com in English.

Indicted Camps to get an assistant and a driver, paid with public funds

Francisco Camps, the former Valencia premier who resigned after he was indicted on corruption charges, will get a chauffer, two bodyguards and an assistant paid for with public money.

On Monday, the Valencia government’s official gazette (DOCV) published the administrative order, which names Camps’ former secretary Susana Fayos Cabañero as his new assistant.

“It is not that he asked for them, it is what the law provides,” said Serafín Castellano, chief of staff to Valencia’s new premier Alberto Fabra.

Camps, who is scheduled to go to trial in the fall for allegedly accepting dress suits and other gifts from businessmen in the corrupt Gürtel network, will also take a seat on the region’s judicial council (CJC), the legal advisor to parliament. Some have questioned whether Camps could hold his seat in parliament as a PP deputy and sit on the CJC, but council sources said that the two positions are compatible.

Antonio Hernando, deputy campaign manager for the Socialists, said that it was “an embarrassment” and “a joke” to allow someone who is going to trial on criminal charges to become a legal advisor. Camps is currently free on 55,000 euro bail.

In a related issue, another Gürtel case defendant, Antoine Sánchez, said he is readying to seek a plea bargain. Sánchez is cousin to Gürtel mastermind Francisco Correa and allegedly was part of the cover-up of the multi-million-euro kickback ring.

via Indicted Camps to get driver, assistant paid with public funds · ELPAÍS.com in English.

Sparks fly over Valencia chief’s resignation

A day after Francisco Camps stepped down as Valencia’s regional chief, both the Socialists and Popular Party (PP) riled each other over corruption and public image. The opposition called on Socialist candidate Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba to follow Camps’ example and stand down, while the Socialists accused the PP of being afraid that the indicted Camps would reveal the names of “his dangerous friends.”

On Thursday, Camps’ lawyer filed a motion with the Valencia High Court stating that his client will go to trial on bribery charges over allegations that he accepted dress suits from the corrupt business network known as Gürtel.

Camps resigned on Wednesday after declining his party’s offer to remain as regional premier if he pleaded guilty and paid a fine. PP leader Mariano Rajoy wanted to avoid an embarrassing trial as he prepares for his third run in the prime minister’s race.

Esteban González Pons, the PP spokesman, said that Camps made a decision of “great political value” after consulting with his family and without “the pressure of Mariano Rajoy.”

“Rubalcaba should take a sip from Camps’ medicine bottle,” Pons said, in reference to the so-called Faisán case. The PP has been calling for Rubalcaba, who has not been charged, to step aside as the Socialist candidate after three law enforcement officers were indicted in an alleged ETA tip-off case that saw a 2006 police raid botched during his tenure as interior minister.

Antonio Hernando, Socialist deputy campaign manager, called Pons’ statement “clearly unethical” and said the PP was interested in keeping Camps “quiet so no one can find out who his dangerous friends are in the Gürtel case.”

Castellón Mayor Alberto Fabra is expected to be sworn in on Tuesday as Camps’ successor after he was selected by the Valencia PP committee.

via Partisan sparks fly over Valencia chief’s resignation · ELPAÍS.com in English.

Valencia regional premier Francisco Camps resigns

Valencias embattled premier Francisco Camps resigned as regional chief on Wednesday after coming under pressure from his own Popular Party PP to plead guilty to charges that he accepted expensive suits as bribes from a group of corrupt businessmen.

“I voluntarily offer my sacrifice so that Mariano Rajoy can become the next prime minister,” Camps told a news conference, in reference to the PP leader.Saying that he is the victim of a “personal campaign” that had been waged against him, Camps told reporters: “I am leaving with less than I came with.”

The surprise resignation came one day after Rajoy and other PP officials were said to be negotiating with the 48-year-old premier to plead guilty before the Valencia High Court and avoid trial on charges that he accepted dress suits and other accessories worth around 14,000 euros from businessmen from the so-called Gürtel network, who allegedly secured a number of valuable contracts in Valencia.

Camps was reelected on May 22 to a third term by a substantial margin over his opponents.

On Friday, Valencia High Court Judge José Flors indicted Camps along with Ricardo Costa, the former PP secretary general in Valencia; Víctor Campos, the former deputy regional premier; and Rafael Betoret, the regions former tourism chief. Both Campos and Betoret pleaded guilty before the High Court ahead of Camps news conference.

Camps was also expected to make the same plea in effort to save his regional post seat, but later in the day his lawyers postponed his appearance before Judge Flors.”Those who attack me today will end up on the losing side,” Camps said, adding that he will fight the improper bribery charges at trial.Costa was also expected to plead guilty but at the last moment on Wednesday said he would not do so unless Camps followed suit.The so-called “suit-gate” affair, and Camps subsequent indictment, had been one of the biggest political thorns for Rajoy and the PP as they prepare for upcoming general elections.

When the charges first surfaced in 2009, Camps had always denied that he had received the dress suits, explaining that he paid for his own clothes. But days before Fridays indictment, Camps acknowledged that he received the accessories in his capacity as head of the PP party and not in his elected position as regional premier. However, Flors rejected that argument, saying that both jobs are “indivisible.”Ramón Jáuregui, the head of the prime ministers office, said that Camps decision was “coherent” and wished him “the best” in his personal life. Earlier in the day, Jáuregui had said that Camps could not stay on as regional premier if he pleads guilty.

via Valencia regional premier Francisco Camps resigns · ELPAÍS.com in English.

“I never ask for a receipt when I pay”

Valencia chief offers series of excuses for lack of proof in Gürtel corruption case

The regional premier of the Valencian region, Francisco Camps, has reason to celebrate his re-election at the polls two Sundays ago, despite being dogged by a corruption scandal that will not go away.

But if his constituency was willing to overlook the possibility that he accepted expensive gifts from a business network in exchange for lucrative government contracts, the courts are not.

Camps is just one step away from sitting in the dock over the Gürtel case, an extensive bribes-for-contracts scheme run by a businessman with close links to the Popular Party (PP), to which the Valencian premier belongs. The 48-year-old politician, who has headed this Mediterranean region since 2003, will be tried for allegedly accepting tailored suits from Álvaro Pérez (aka “El Bigotes”), the chief of the Gürtel network in Valencia, where the ring was awarded contracts worth millions of euros and apparently also helped the regional PP secure illegal funding.

On May 20, 2009, Camps had to answer questions from a judge and from the anti-corruption attorney’s office. What follows is a summary of the interrogation.

Judge. Do you have a special relationship of friendship with Álvaro Pérez?

Camps. No, his relationship throughout all these years has been with the party. He is the person who organized party events, and my relationship \[with him\] always centered around big party events in the Valencia region, because I always like to supervise the design, the concept, the podiums, the lighting, in order to lend a air of modernity to the party events. The party confided in him during these years, and that is the only relationship I have had with him.

J. It seems that, following instructions from this man, or else in his company, you went to an establishment in Madrid to order some clothes. Is this correct?

C. Well, at one point ? it must have been during a party meeting ? he said he knew someone in a Madrid store who had a tailor’s shop, and who adapted ready-made suits that fitted quite well for a very good price. One day when I was in Madrid, I dropped by the store, met Mr Tomás, introduced myself, and that is how it happened.

Prosecutor. You say you used cash to pay. Do you have any receipts or documents to prove that you paid in cash?

C. I paid and I took the suit home. And if nobody asked me for the suit back, it’s because I paid for the suit that I took home.

P. And you never requested a receipt, given your position, in the event that one day you might need it?

C. That’s precisely why. For many years now I have never asked for a receipt when I pay for things so people won’t think I’m later charging it to the public accounts. That’s also why I don’t use a credit card, ever. My wife does. (…) I’ve occasionally taken taxis in Valencia and obviously I never asked for a receipt, like many public servants or people who work for companies do, so that nobody will think that there is some kind of account that pays for suits, or coffees or anything else.

Defense attorney. Why don’t you use your personal credit card, you could have gone to Forever Young (the tailor’s shop) and paid with that?

C. Because I never do, because it works out better at home like that, and because, like I said, I think that in the collective imagination, for politicians to use credit cards makes it seem like the card was linked to an expenses account.

D. So you don’t want people to see you using the card because of an image issue?

C. Yes. In the end, you’re taking decisions about your image, aren’t you? The way you dress, the way you are, the way you behave.

IGNACIO ZAFRA – Valencia – 30/05/2011

“I never ask for a receipt when I pay” · ELPAÍS.com in English.

Spaniards Take to Streets Before Vote

With elections set for Sunday in Spain in more than 8,000 municipalities and 13 of its 17 regions, thousands of people, most of them young, have taken to the streets in Madrid, Barcelona and other large cities this week, calling for an end to suspected long standing corruption among established parties. Fuelling the demonstrators’ anger is the perceived failure by politicians to alleviate the hardships imposed on a struggling population by a jobless rate of 21 percent.

At sit-ins, street protests and on social media networks, the protesters’ message is that of an alternative campaign that could eclipse that of the established parties and result in a decline in voter turnout on Sunday, from 63 percent four years ago.

Some of the youth groups have made the fight against corruption their battle cry, like NoLesVotes, or “Don’t vote for them,” whose manifesto starts with the warning that “corruption in Spain has reached alarming levels.” The group recently published a Web site map pinpointing localities where more than 100 politicians seeking election were also under judicial investigation.

Other protesters are fielding alternative candidates, like the Pirate Party in Catalonia, founded 18 months ago, which is hoping to win about 7,000 votes across Catalan municipalities. One of its candidates in Barcelona, the 27-year-old Francesc Parelleda, said political corruption was a consequence of a “political system in which there is simply zero transparency and democracy within the main parties.”

José M. de Areilza, dean of the IE Law School in Madrid, said, “I don’t think that political corruption is necessarily worse in Spain than in other European countries, but I do think that the economic crisis is now generating a lot more anger and resentment here toward politicians.”

On Sunday, Francisco Camps is expected to be re-elected as head of the regional government of Valencia, which includes the third-largest city in Spain and some of the most popular Spanish resorts.

By the end of the year, however, Mr. Camps is also likely to be in court facing bribery charges, as part of a vast corruption investigation, dubbed the Gürtel case, that has also targeted several other politicians from the main center-right political force, the Popular Party.

Mr. Camps was charged in February for allegedly receiving tailor-made suits in return for granting public contracts, with further possible financial irregularities still under investigation. Nine other politicians standing for the Popular Party on Sunday in Valencia are being investigated or have been charged with fraud. Mr. Camps and his fellow candidates deny any wrongdoing.

For now, the corruption allegations have not hindered Mr. Camps’s re-election bid, according to the latest opinion polls. Like Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister who is engulfed in scandal, Mr. Camps has portrayed himself as the victim of a witch hunt by political opponents, judges and left-leaning media. Asked in December to comment on some of the allegations, he said that “nobody should believe Soviet-style propaganda against everything that has been achieved in Valencia.”

In fact, “many people in Valencia now talk about the Berlusconization of our society,” said Ferrán Bono, a Socialist lawmaker who represents Valencia in the national Parliament in Madrid. “Some people have seen so many political scandals that they just treat them as banal, but I think many also genuinely believe the conspiracy theory that Camps has been so actively promoting.”

The Gürtel investigation, which also targets some Popular Party politicians in Madrid, involves more than €120 million, or about $170 million, of public funds misspent by politicians in return for alleged kickbacks, according to a summary of the charges presented by the prosecution this year. Its alleged ringleader, Francisco Correa, is in jail awaiting trial.

But corruption investigations have not spared other main Spanish political parties, starting with the governing Socialists of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Socialist politicians stand accused in several of the property-related fraud inquiries that have mushroomed amid a collapse in the Spanish construction sector. Since April, the Socialist party in Andalusia, the largest region in Spain, has also been shaken by an inquiry into whether party officials provided fictitious early-retirement packages to friends and family members.

Mr. de Areilza, the law school dean, said: “We have built a democracy with political parties somehow disconnected from society, who have accumulated a lot of internal powers and have not been regulated in very important areas like their financing — and unfortunately they are also the ones who are in charge of pushing through any reform of the system.”

Mr. Camps’s anticipated victory in Valencia is expected to be part of a countrywide sweep by the Popular Party at the expense of the governing Socialists, whose popularity has plummeted because of the economic crisis.

Whatever the outcome Sunday, Mr. Zapatero announced in April that he would not seek a third term in office, paving the way for the selection of a new Socialist leader ahead of the general election, expected in March 2012.

In their campaigns, many regional and municipal politicians sought to distance themselves from the policies of Mr. Zapatero’s central government in Madrid in order to bolster their own prospects. In the case of Mr. Camps in Valencia, “the message has been that everything that works in Valencia is his doing while everything that is wrong, like a jobless rate that is four percentage points above the national average, is the fault of Zapatero,” said Mr. Bono, the Socialist lawmaker.

The reverse, however, has not been true, with national party leaders careful not to antagonize powerful regional politicians who could influence their chances next March.

For much of last year, Mariano Rajoy, the Popular Party’s national leader, refused to confirm his support for Mr. Camps because of his ties to the Gürtel corruption scandal. On Tuesday, however, Mr. Rajoy went to Valencia to join Mr. Camps at the city bullring. “You are a great president,” Mr. Rajoy told him in front of a cheering audience. “The people vote for you because they love you.”

By RAPHAEL MINDER

Published: May 19, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/world/europe/20iht-spain20.html?pagewanted=1&src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB

Electoral Board suspends visits to Castellón airport

The Electoral Board has suspended visits to Castellón airport proposed by Castellón Provincial President, Carlos Fabra. This morning, the legal representative of PSPV to the Castellón Provincial Electoral Board, Juli Domingo, registered a complaint against these visits, which started today, and also called for banning the distribution of any prospectus for the facility. The president of Valencia, Francisco Camps, and Fabra inaugurated the facilities on March 25.

The Electoral Board has been quick to analyze the request of the Socialists and suspended the visits, as confirmed by sources in the High Court of Valencia. The Law on Elections prohibits from the announcement of the elections until the holding,  whatever act organised or financed, directly or indirectly, by the public authorities.  For the socialists, the organisation of such visits “violate” the prohibition in the the electoral law.

Domingo recalled that the forced opening of the airport that did not even have planes,  a fact that all the media in the country are ridiculing  has demonstrated the extent to which the PP is willing to cheat, and we want to send a message of reassurance to the citizens of Castellon in the sense that we will follow closely whatever anomaly to ensure that the electoral process proceeds with normality and within the law.