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.

The law finally catches up with former Castellón cacique Fabra

Bringing the PP baron to court has been like running an obstacle course

MARÍA FABRA Castellón 2 OCT 2013 – 19:23 CET

The trial of former Castellón provincial chief and powerful Popular Party (PP) baron in the region of Valencia, Carlos Fabra, for alleged influence-peddling, bribery and tax fraud began on Wednesday, a decade after the first accusations were lodged against him.

In its written allegations, the popular prosecution in the form of the consumer protection group Unión de Consumidores described Fabra as a “magician in obtaining illegal ends.”

Carlos Fabra leaving the provincial High Court of Castellón on Wednesday. / DOMENECH CASTELLÓ (EFE)

Unlike on other occasions he has appeared in court the 67-year-old Fabra, who faces a jail sentence of up to 13 years and a fine of 1.9 million euros if found guilty, was not accompanied by anyone from his party.

Prosecutors have accused Fabra and his former wife, María Amparo Fernández, of defrauding the Treasury of some 700,000 euros between 1999 and 2003. However, Fabra’s lawyer on Wednesday argued that tax inspectors who handled the case could not be considered as independent expert witnesses as they are administration assistants of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s office.

The public prosecutor also claims Fabra acted as an intermediary for third parties with public administrations and accepted money for doing so.

The three magistrates conducting the trial are the same ones that attempted to have the accusation of taking bribes lodged against Fabra thrown out. Neither the state nor the public prosecutor have questioned their fitness to preside over the trial.

Since the case began in December 2003 — following accusations by a businessman that Fabra had taken bribes to intervene with the Agriculture Ministry to obtain permits — nine judges and four prosecutors have been involved in it. While the investigation proceeded, Fabra continued in his post as Castellón provincial chief, handling public money and presiding over the PP’s affairs in his particular fiefdom.

Part of the public’s money went to build an airport at Castellón, which has never been used as such, with the facilities dominated by a huge statue of Fabra himself. That was just one of several pharaonic monuments to human folly and hubris that marked a boom period in the region fueled by a massive real estate bubble.

During that period no one in the PP demanded that Fabra account for the accusations lodged against him. The head of the PP and now prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, at one point lauded Fabra as an “exemplary citizen.”

Fabra even tried to prevent the distribution of newspapers that had reported on the case and the judge who eventually formalized the accusation against him, Jacobo Pin, felt the need to seek the protection of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), the legal watchdog, after claiming that the Castellón Provincial High Court, the president of which was a personal friend of Fabra, had tried to put pressure on him to drop the case. Pin’s complaint went all the way to the Supreme Court, who gave the magistrate “total freedom” to proceed with the case.

After the Castellón Provincial High Court in 2010 threw out four of the five tax fraud charges against Fabra because they had exceeded the statute of limitations, it was again the Supreme Court that intervened to over-rule that decision.

Members of Fabra’s family were also included in the investigation after a report found that it had quadrupled its combined wealth in five years, but eventually only his former wife was formally accused. Fabra himself won a major prize in the national lottery no less than four times. One way of laundering illegally obtained money is to purchase winning lottery tickets.

Fabra has denied all the charges against him and at one point defended himself by saying: “I have never personally benefitted from my position as provincial chief of Castellón or as president of the Popular Party in the region. My public duties have never brought me any gain or revenue or than my official remuneration.”

via http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/10/02/inenglish/1380734613_504452.html

Valencia politicians shocked to hear engine roar at empty Castellón airport

Probe planned to find out how local racing driver gained permission to practice at phantom facility

ADOLF BELTRAN / LORENA ORTEGA Valencia / Castellón 22 ENE 2013 – 12:35 CET

“We’d gone there to denounce the fact that, two years after its inauguration, it still hasn’t opened,” said Valencia regional deputy María José Salvador after a visit to Castellón airport. “When we got there we heard a noise like a Formula 1 car and we saw a vehicle doing laps of the runway.”

One of the cars in practice at Castellon Airport

Upon quizzing the security guard, the delegation of politicians, which included the deputy speaker of the Valencia assembly, Ángel Luna, and the mayor of nearby Vila-real, José Benlloch, were directed to the public company that runs the airport, Aerocas. Its president, Carlos Fabra, is a former Castellón provincial leader and the driving force behind the facility, which has yet to see a single plane arrive or leave.

One of the delegation, Eva Martínez, called Aerocas and was told that the car had permission to be there by an administrator who did not confirm the name of its driver. Her question was answered when a group of children arrived to catch a glimpse of Roberto Merhi, a Formula 3 champion and local resident, who now competes for Mercedes in the DTM championship.

Merhi visited Fabra in 2010 and presented him with a model of his car, which bore sponsorship from the local tourism department. Despite Martínez’s failure to raise an Aerocas manager on the phone, she held little doubt as to who had authorized the session: “I’m sure it’s the person who thinks the airport is his.”

The delegation said that their planned complaint will not be to do with the driver’s training but the lack of transparency over activities at the phantom airport, which was opened in 2011 by Fabra and former premier Francisco Camps, who resigned that year to stand trial in the Gürtel corruption case.

via http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/01/22/inenglish/1358854320_929967.html

In Spain, a Symbol of Ruin at an Airport to Nowhere

By RAPHAEL MINDER

Published: July 18, 2012

MADRID — A plane has finally reached the ghost airport of Castellón, in southeastern Spain.

Domenech Castello/European Pressphoto Agency

This statue at an airport in Castellón Province in Spain was supposed to honor an official who is now under investigation.

Rather than sitting on the runway, however, the aircraft, an aluminum model, was placed this week atop a giant statue along the entrance road to the airport — another twist in the tale of a $183 million project that has become a symbol of the wasteful spending that has sunk Spain deep into a recession and a banking crisis.

The statue, 79 feet tall and budgeted at $375,000, was supposed to honor Carlos Fabra, the longstanding head of Castellón’s provincial government and the driving force behind the airport project.

Mr. Fabra was placed under judicial investigation this year in connection with several cases of corruption and tax evasion. He has not been charged, however, and he is not expected to appear in court before the end of the year.

On Saturday, Mr. Fabra formally stepped down as the head of the provincial branch of Spain’s governing Popular Party, which he had run for 22 years. He still maintains the chairmanship of the public company that runs the airport.

Even though the airport has failed to attract a single scheduled flight, Mr. Fabra has staunchly defended his project. In March 2011, when the airport was formally inaugurated, he argued that it would provide a unique opportunity to turn an airport into a tourist attraction, giving visitors full access to the runway and other areas normally kept out of bounds because of safety concerns.

On Saturday, he again described the airport as “a necessary development tool” for his province. Castellón lies in the region of Valencia, which has a debt load of just under $25 billion and a credit rating that was recently downgraded to junk status.

The statue was commissioned by Mr. Fabra and was built by a local sculptor, Juan Ripollés, who titled his work “The Plane Man.” Mr. Ripollés is now saying that he was forced to spend $155,000 of his own money and “empty the pockets of my children” to complete a work that, he said, ended up costing about $600,000.

As part of a decade-long construction and housing boom, Spain added airports, toll roads and railway lines, often under pressure from regional politicians seeking a greater presence within the national transport network. Many of the recently built highways are now deserted, and only one-fifth of Spain’s airports made a profit last year.

Mr. Fabra’s daughter, Andrea, a national lawmaker who also represents the Popular Party, sent a written apology this week to the speaker of Parliament after a defamatory outburst last Wednesday, when Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy presented an $80 billion austerity package, including cuts in unemployment benefits. Ms. Fabra later insisted that her insult was aimed not at the jobless but at the Socialist lawmakers, who later asked for her resignation.

A version of this article appeared in print on July 19, 2012, on page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: In Spain, a Symbol of Ruin At an Airport to Nowhere.

via In Spain, a Symbol of Ruin at an

Airport to Nowhere – NYTimes.com.

Airstrip at Castellón’s plane-free airport needs to be widened

State Agency for Air Security has found that main strip is too narrow for planes to turn around

Regional officials have kept problem under wraps since April 2011

MARÍA FABRA Castellón 14 FEB 2012 – 20:45 CET

The airport in Castellón — a controversial multi-million-euro regional air facility that was inaugurated last year but hasn’t seen a single plane land — will soon see its air strips being torn up. The State Agency for Air Security has found that its main strip is too narrow for airplanes to turn around, and will have to be widened to meet regulations.

Regional officials found out about the narrow-runway problem in April 2011, when the airport was inaugurated, but kept it under wraps. The airport, the brainchild of former provincial leader Carlos Fabra, was never opened because it still doesn’t have the proper permits to receive air traffic.

The private contractor hired to run the airport for 50 years is demanding that the Valencia government reimburse the airport management firm the sum of 80 million euros for canceling its contract.

via Airstrip at Castellón’s plane-free airport needs to be widened | In english | EL PAÍS.

White elephants

In the past few days there has been so much in the press about Castellon Airport that it is difficult to keep track of it. It would appear that Castellon Airport has become the metaphor for waste in Spain.
Adolf Beltran in his article “Una manada de elefantes blancos” in El País claims that the airport without planes of Castellón triumphs in the world as a symbol of waste. He quotes the recent article in the Daily Telegraph “Spain’s white elephant airport 30 milion euros spent on advertising.”

There was the Giles Tremlett article “Spanish politicians 24-metre sculpture prompts accusations of megalomania” in the Guardian reproduced here last week.

And then this weekend in El País there was the rant of Antonio Muñoz Molina “La era de la fealdad” ( The era of ugliness) in which he makes reference to the airport.

“To remind that the sculpture will cost 300,000 euros is without doubt a meanness. Who puts a price on art. And after all that spending is a trifle at an airport that has cost 150 million euros, and will cost 8 million a year to maintain. In the not improbable case that no plane comes to land, the locals can indulge walking bucolically along the runway and admire in silence the sculpture of the artist Ripollés. Perhaps in a thousand years the 20-ton Castellón colossus will be one of the few visible relics of our era of ugliness.”

Spanish politicians 24-metre sculpture prompts accusations of megalomania

A copper monument dedicated to Carlos Fabra is being erected in front of a new airport at public expense.

Giles Tremlett in Madrid guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 10 January 2012 16.15 GMT

Many Spanish airports have been forced to close, raising questions about the new airports viability. It is the biggest white elephant in Spain – a €300,000, 24-metre-high statue dedicated to an infamous politician whose face will welcome people to a brand new airport that no one uses.The monument to Carlos Fabra, head of the newly built airport in the eastern province of Castellon and local boss of the governing Peoples party PP, is being erected in the middle of a roundabout at the airports entrance.Although still only half-built, the 20-tonne copper sculpture has provoked outrage in a Spain gripped by ferocious public spending cuts and massive unemployment.The local sculptor Juan Ripollés has said one of several faces on the monument will be that of Fabra, who recently retired after 16 years as president of the provincial assembly.”It is a homage to the origins of the airport project and to the person behind it, Carlos Fabra,” he explained. “It is made up of several faces, and will include the figure of Fabra.”The bill will be paid by the public company in charge of the airport, which happens to be run by Fabra himself.”This is proof of Fabras megalomania,” said the regional deputy Marian Albiolo of the opposition United Left party.With the newly built airport not yet in use, and questions already being raised over its viability after several airport closures in Spain, the money for the monument in effect comes out of taxpayers pockets.”This airport was finished 10 months ago, is not used and owes money,” said the socialist deputy Joaquim Puig.Fabra has been at the centre of corruption allegations with, among other things, court investigators wanting to know how he regularly appears to win Spains El Gordo Christmas lottery – whose winning tickets are sometimes bought up by people trying to launder money. He denies the allegations, which have yet to be brought to trial.Fabra belongs to the Valencia regional branch of PP, the party of the prime minister, Mariano Rajoy. PP is mired in numerous corruption scandals.The Valencia region also has one of the biggest budget deficits in Spain, with the regional PP government this week announcing new tax rises and spending cuts.Austerity measures are being put into place across Spain as the economy sinks into the second part of a double-dip recession and unemployment reaches 23%.

via Spanish politicians 24-metre sculpture prompts accusations of megalomania | World news | guardian.co.uk.

How a plane-less airport spent 30 million euros on ads

Public firm continued publicity spend despite doubts over Castellón’s future; massive statue of former provincial chief goes ahead

LORENA ORTEGA – Castellón – 08/01/2012

Over 30 million euros have been spent advertising Castellón’s airport, which is not yet operational and faces an extremely uncertain future after the regional government rescinded its agreement with the contractor that was supposed to run it.

This expense, undertaken in 2003 when the construction project got underway, was repeatedly criticized by Sindicatura de Comptes – the Valencian Audit Office – which noted that all agreements were being signed “without accrediting the need for the expense nor determining the price of the contract,” and without analyzing the possible benefits for the airport itself, which is located in Castellón province, in the northern portion of the Valencian region.

The news comes shortly after the Valencian government had to be helped out by Madrid authorities to ensure it would not default on a maturing loan of 123 million euros owed to Deutsche Bank. The move underscored the liquidity problems of the most indebted of Spain’s 17 semi-autonomous regions, with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 19.9 percent.

To many people, the “airport without airplanes” has come to symbolize the wastefulness of Valencian officials in recent years, when the real-estate bubble fueled a series of oversize projects of questionable economic value.

Since then, there has been a steady trickle of cases of money squandering by Valencia’s public agencies, including Emarsa, a water treatment plant that was allegedly used by its managers to divert millions of euros to their own accounts. In this case, it was also a public company, Aeropuerto de Castellón SL (Aerocas), which made the decision to spend over 30 million euros in sponsorships, fairs and advertising events even though it was always unclear whether the airport would ever become profitable or even operational, given that the nearby provinces of Valencia and Alicante already have their own airports.

Despite the uncertainty, Aerocas sponsored sports teams such as first-division Villarreal CF, whose soccer players bore the logo of Castellón Airport on their shirts for three straight seasons in exchange for 2.35 million euros. The sponsorship was later extended to another soccer team, CD Castellón.

Aerocas admitted it cannot determine what the economic return on its investment will be, and instead talks about “an assumed risk.” Until now, managers held that the airport had to make itself known in order to attract tourists and secure agreements with the airlines. This last job was going to be carried out by the contractor with whom the regional government has just broken its deal.

Last week, the chief of Castellón province, Javier Moliner, announced that this year the airport would not be advertised at Fitur, a major tourism fair in Madrid, because “we need to promote what we have and not what we’re going to have.”

As a matter of fact, the future of Aerocas itself is up in the air after regional authorities said it would be merged into a holding to reduce public spending. Since its creation, Aerocas has doubled its personnel expense, which went up from 148,115 euros a year for three employees to the current 382,216 euros a year for a staff of seven.

In the meantime, Aerocas is continuing to build a 20-ton, 25-meter-high sculpture at the airport entrance at a cost of 300,000 euros. According to its creator, Juan García Ripollés, the inspiration for this statue is the man who masterminded the airport project in the first place: Carlos Fabra, the provincial premier of Castellón for the last 16 years who stepped down last June. Fabra, of the Popular Party (PP), is being investigated for tax fraud, influence peddling and bribery of public officials.

via How a plane-less airport spent 30 million euros on ads · ELPAÍS.com in English.

Supreme Court clears way for Fabra to face fiscal charges

Former provincial leader of Castellón thought to have defrauded 1.5 million euros over five years

MARÍA FABRA – Castellón – 01/12/2011

The Supreme Court has rejected the prescription of four of five financial crimes levelled against the former leader of the Castellón provincial government, Carlos Fabra. In a court order published on Thursday, the magistrates admitted the prosecution’s arguments against the prescription, determined by the Castellón High Court, paving the way for Fabra, a PP heavyweight who was very visible during Mariano Rajoy’s prime-ministerial campaign, to be tried for fiscal crimes, influence peddling and bribery.

According to tax inspectors, Fabra and his ex-wife, María Amparo Fernández, defrauded 1.5 million euros over five years. The PP provincial chief also faces charges lodged by local businessman Vicente Vilar, who told authorities that Fabra was paid “millions of euros for political favors.”

Anti-corruption prosecutors are seeking a 15-year jail term for Fabra, while the people’s prosecutor, representing the Consumers’ Union, wants a sentence of 20 years and nine months.

via Supreme Court clears way for Fabra to face fiscal charges · ELPAÍS.com in English.

Further delay to the operation of Castellón Airport

The coming into operation of Castellón airport is being delayed still further due to the lack of funds of the Generalitat.  The government of Francisco Camps owes 17 million euros to Concesiones Aeroportuarias, this corresponds to the non-payment of 11 m euros for delays in the works, plus 4 m euros for the extra costs of the project and a further 2.4 m euros for the final payment of the loan taken to finance the infrastructure.
On 23 March, the President of Aerocas, Carlos Fabra, and those responsible for the private company Concesiones Aeroportuarias signed a new contract that put an end to the conflict between the two parties and the threat of a public rescue.  Fabra expressed his gratitude to the President of the Generalitat, Francisco Camps, for giving “absolute power” during the negotiations but two months later the confidence Camps has not been translated into money and the contract signed by Fabra lacks validity because the Generalitat has not fulfilled its financial commitments.  That agreement forced by the demands of banks, substantially improved the conditions to the concessionaire, as the Generalitat (through Aerocas) guaranteed to cover any losses over the next eight years. It also pledged Aerocas to pay before 31 March the remaining part of the equity loan that was granted to finance the project. But it has not complied.
Gerardo Camps, the economic vice president, yesterday admitted this debt, but aserted that the Consell will make this payment before the end of the month or early next.  Camps also acknowledged that the 15m euros owed to Concesiones Aeroportuarias in respect of delays and cost overruns in the work should have been paid in December.
The situation of pre-bankruptcy that the airport is passing through for non-payment of financial obligations is a delaying the application to the Ministry of Development for permits to fly .  The experts of AESA, the Air Safety Agency,  insist upon some minor works to fulfill the requirements established by the Air Navigation Act.  The lack of liquidity of the concessionaire due to the debt of the Government of Francisco Camps has hampered these works and therefore have not been able to claim the permissions so that the airport is operational.