More finds in the Gürtel Case have led to National Court Judge, Pablo Ruz, to take a new look at one of the central themes in the case, that of allegations of backhanders to those with responsibility for the granting of concessions in the Madrid Regional Government. The judge has called on Esperanza Aguirre’s Government for all the documentation of 362 cases where companies linked to Francisco Correa, the businessman at the centre of the Gürtel Case, were awarded contracts between 2004 and 2008. Among these were dozens of events where Esperanza Aguirre took part to promote her political and public image. The magistrate is investigating a second set of accounts with which wages were paid. Judge Ruz has also indicted two more people in the Valencia section of the Gürtel Case. They are top managers in the Valencia TV station Canal 9, and it regards the money allegedly diverted in 2006 with their coverage of the Pope’s visit to Valencia. Luis Sabater Balaguer and Antonio de Viuda are accused of continued misuse of public money and of showing favouritism to Teconsa, linked to Gürtel, which was given the contract to install the sound system for the papal visit. The businessman allegedly at the centre of Gürtel, Francisco Correa, has seen its bail reduced by Judge Ruz from 600,000 to 200,000 €. Correa has been held in provisional prison since 2009, and now after three years, had requested to be released. Meanwhile Judge Ceres, who instructions in the Valencia High Court of Justice has refused to archive the part of the case which alleges illegal financing of the PP in the region. A request to archive the case came from the PP treasurer in the Valencia Government, Yolanda García. Judge Ceres was not impressed, noting that she had made the request just a week before she was to be called to declare indicted in the case.
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