The former president of the Community of Madrid Ignacio González has appeared as an accused party before the National Court in the trial of the 'Lezo case', where he has reiterated that he "has never" intervened "in any of the public contracts" of the Canal de Isabel II related to the construction of a golf course.
During his term as vice president in the regional Executive chaired by the 'popular' Esperanza Aguirre, González has distanced himself from those awards, noting that "contracts are made by the board of directors" of the Canal de Isabel II and emphasizing that he "has never" taken part "in any of the contracting" of the public entity.
In his statement before the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the former Madrid leader has insisted that he had no contact with any people linked to those operations. "I don’t know anyone, I have never spoken with anyone, I have never asked for anything from anyone, I have never acted on anyone’s behalf," he said during the interrogation held this Wednesday.
As González has stated, the project to enable sports facilities on the roof of the third reservoir of the Canal de Isabel II was modified in 2004 at the initiative of Aguirre, "who considered that it was not the most appropriate thing that there be a helipad in the center of Madrid," and he understood "that it was an opportunity to make a major facility in a district that had no sports facilities."
After that modification, the works were awarded to the construction company Dragados, which in turn subcontracted TCT. González has stressed that "I have never asked Dragados for anything" and that he has also held no talks "with any technician ever" and has not requested "anything" from "anyone from the Autonomous Community of Madrid, nor from the Canal," nor "anything on anyone’s behalf."
Relationship of his relatives with TCT
When addressing the situation of his relatives, the former regional vice president indicated that he "never" had any information about the company TCT and that he had "no knowledge" that said company was linked to his brother, Pablo González, and to his brother-in-law, Juan José Caballero, both also prosecuted in this case.
He specified that the addition of his relatives to the company "was already much later than the award of all of this contract" and that they became part of TCT in 2008, "once the company had no relationship" with the Canal de Isabel II.
González has added that, when "some information appeared that said that behind that company there was some relationship" with his brother and his brother-in-law, he transferred his doubts to the manager of the public body. According to his testimony, this official told him that his relatives did not appear in "all the documentation that is submitted and that is analyzed".
The former regional president has again emphasized that he "never" requested or "received" "anything" and has stressed that the officials of Dragados and those in charge of the works stated in court proceedings that they did not know him.
In this case, the Public Prosecutor’s Office is seeking for all the accused — among them the former managing director of the Canal de Isabel II between 2003 and 2009, Ildefonso de Miguel, and José Antonio Clemente, a partner in TCT — prison sentences of six years as alleged perpetrators of bribery-related offenses and as necessary accomplices, in addition to a fine of 550,000 euros.