Unexpected turn at the start this Monday of the long-awaited trial for the alleged corruption scheme surrounding the payment of invoices during the planning and construction of the new Hospital Universitari Sant Joan de Reus (Baix Camp), after fifteen years of judicial investigation. Two of the main defendants, Josep Prat, then general director of the municipal holding Innova de Reus and former president of the Institut Català de la Salut (ICS), and the architect Jorge Batesteza have reached an agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office after admitting to committing the crimes of malfeasance, embezzlement of public funds, and document falsification, according to the defense lawyer of Josep Prat who revealed this on the first day of the trial.
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Reduction of sentences
The two defendants admit to committing the crimes of malfeasance, embezzlement of public funds, and document falsification
Details of the agreement between the defenses of the two accused, Prat and Batesteza, nor the supposed sentence reduction agreed with the public prosecutor have not yet been disclosed. The content of the pact, also signed by the private and popular accusations, will not be revealed until the final stage of the trial. Besides a sentence reduction, it will almost certainly involve disqualification from holding public office. The two defendants faced a maximum sentence of ten years in prison. Prat and Batesteza were also accused of influence peddling.
Architect Jorge Batesteza was responsible for CatSalut infrastructures before leaving his public post and starting to work for Innova. The very lengthy investigation, with 14 years of judicial inquiry, has been an important factor in the agreement with the public prosecutor, considering the alleged undue delays as a mitigating factor.
The trial should help clarify the alleged payment with public money, through the coffers of the Reus City Council, of invoices above market prices and other invoices for unjustified work related to the construction of the new hospital in Reus, inaugurated in 2011. The payment of allegedly irregular invoices exceeded one million euros.
Defense strategies
The other six defendants are, on paper, in a weaker position after the step taken by the general director of Innova
The admission of committing crimes by two of the main defendants leaves, a priori, the other six defendants in a weaker position just at the start of the oral trial this Monday at the Provincial Court of Tarragona. The defenses of the eight defendants have requested on this first day the annulment of several pieces of evidence and proceedings carried out during the very lengthy investigation, mostly alleging violation of the right of defense of the investigated. They have been very critical of the judicial investigation.
Among the other six defendants, with sentence requests ranging from seven to ten years in prison, is the then mayor of Reus, Lluís Miquel Pérez (PSC), who has been retired from politics for years, and who presided over Innova when the allegedly corrupt practices were committed. Pérez left the mayoralty in 2011 after losing the municipal elections. Also sitting for the first time today on the defendants’ bench is Carles Manté, former director of CatSalut, who also did work for Innova when the construction of the new hospital center was being planned, currently a reference for the entire Camp de Tarragona. All of them are accused of the crimes of malfeasance, embezzlement of public funds, document falsification, and influence peddling.
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The Innova case investigation has dragged on after being uncovered more than 15 years ago by complaints filed by the then leader of the CUP in Reus, David Vidal, a gardener by profession and currently also out of politics. The CUP acts as the popular accusation in the Innova trial while the Reus City Council is the private accuser in the case, although it only accuses Prat, Batesteza, and Manté.
Almost 15 years of judicial investigation
The mitigating factor of undue delays has been important in the agreement with the public prosecutor
The City Council also demands compensation of 1.2 million euros for the money lost by the municipal holding due to the payment of allegedly fraudulent services.
The enormous delay in the investigation coincided with the dismissal of several separate parts of the investigation linked to the Innova case. The large judicial case of Innova, with sixteen parts and a great political and media uproar a decade ago, has been languishing and so far only the case of invoices paid related to the works of the new hospital in Reus has reached trial. This is the main piece and number two.
Josep Prat was president of the ICS under Artur Mas (CiU) during the presidency of the Generalitat and was one of the masterminds of the municipal holding Innova, a group of companies with public participation that served the Reus City Council to carry out projects in very diverse fields, such as nutrition, technology, or health.
The trial, after resolving the preliminary issues today, will not resume until May 26, with the first statements and witness evidence. The first trial for the Innova case is scheduled for a total of thirteen sessions between May and June and could be ready for sentencing next July.
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