The trial at the Audiència de Tarragona for the contracts in the municipal holding Innova entered a key phase this Wednesday with the testimony of the comptroller of the Ajuntament de Reus, who maintained that the architect Jorge Batesteza was paid simultaneously by Innova and by the UTE Euroconsult for the same work related to the Hospital Sant Joan de Reus.
The contradiction that was central to his testimony also affected the hiring of Carles Manté. The comptroller stated that there was no municipal order to hire either Manté or Batesteza and that, despite this, the general management of Innova, under the decision of Josep Prat, processed both hirings without going through the board of directors.
The comptroller placed the invoices from CCM Estratègies at 720,120.82 euros without sufficient backing
During his testimony, the comptroller pointed out that the hiring of Manté through the company CCM Estratègies did not comply with the public administration contracts law. He added that the invoices presented, for a total of 720,120.82 euros, mostly lacked supporting reports.
Furthermore, he explained that Innova received these invoices monthly for four years with little documentation about the work performed. The last six, for amounts between 80,000 and 90,000 euros, were returned by the company without the contractor ever claiming them.
In the courtroom, the official detailed that the very design of the contract already presented control problems. At this point, he indicated that one of the contracts was for 260,000 euros and that it included monthly reports despite the lack of content that, in his opinion, the file presented.
"The difficulty is that the same contract provided for monthly reports, there was a lack of content, one of the contracts was for 260,000 euros, they earned 60 euros per hour for 1,000 hours a year" - Comptroller of the Ajuntament de Reus, Audiència de Tarragona
The comptroller also referred to Manté's unpaid position as chairman of the board of directors of Shirota. He maintained that this element did not alter his assessment of the main strategic advisory contract.
"It does not change the meaning of the report because the object of the contract is strategic advice; whether it is paid or not is a matter that should be dealt with within the company itself, it does not fit with the main contract" - Comptroller of the Ajuntament de Reus, Audiència de Tarragona
Batesteza appeared as an advisor to Innova and as project manager for the UTE
Regarding Jorge Batesteza, the comptroller placed his functions in the advisory of the building projects of the Sant Joan de Reus Hospital. His statement pointed to an overlap of roles between the municipal company and the temporary union of companies awarded the contract.
As he explained, in the reviewed documentation, hospital minutes appeared in which Batesteza intervened without a signature and with different attributions depending on the moment. Sometimes he appeared as an advisor for Innova and other times as a project manager hired by the UTE Euroconsult.
"We found hospital minutes in which Batesteza participated, they were not signed, at some moments he appeared as an advisor for Innova and at others as a project manager hired by the UTE, the double role made no sense" - Comptroller of the Reus City Council, Audiència de Tarragona
That was one of the points that the comptroller linked to the way Innova managed the contracts. In his appearance, he insisted that there is no municipal order to hire Manté and Batesteza, despite the fact that both files were processed from the general management of the company.
On the procedural level, the court also resolved a preliminary issue raised by Manté's defense. The judges partially granted his request and agreed to exclude from the case the communications intercepted by the Guardia Civil between the accused and his lawyer, considering them protected by attorney-client privilege.
The hearing had been suspended on Tuesday due to the indisposition of a member of the court and resumed on Wednesday at the Audiència de Tarragona. The plan for the next session is the testimony of the former Minister of Health Marina Geli and the secretary of the Reus City Council, while the accused will testify at the end of the trial.