(Andujar, Jaen) One of the biggest headaches for the Junta de Andalucia at the moment is the scandal that is developing concerning the accusations launched by a chauffeur for one of the governmental top dogs. According to the chauffeur Juan Trujillo Blanco, he and his ex boss, the Director General of Employment for the Junta, Francisco Javier Guerrero, had blown 900,000 euros on luxuries, such as cocaine and parties; money that had been assigned by his boss as subventions for companies that never existed.
That is what he claims, and which, to date, has not been proven before a court of law, but just as the PSOE begins to fight for its continued existence as the governing party of the Junta de Andalucia, such declarations are liable to sink the party’s chances of re-election.
All this is wrapped up in the much wider scandal of the ERE’s, which is to the Andaluz socialists what the Caso Gurtel is to the conservatives in Madrid, Valencia and the Baleares Islands. Los ERE’s is a government subvention for companies in trouble and unable to meet their financial obligations with their creditors and above all, their workforce. The trouble was that huge amounts were going to ghost companies to pay ghost workers, so now we have the declaration by the chauffeur of the man already being heavily investigated over the ERE’s, claiming that he was spending the subverted funds on coke and chicks.
The chauffeur lives in the small town of Llanos de Sotillo in the province of Jaen; a town of no more than 300 inhabitants. His house stands out from the rest and according to the locals, was stuffed full of expensive furnishings and paintings, etc. The house was closed up about a month ago after the police went through it with a fine tooth comb, confiscating computers and even an unlicenced pistol. Certainly, Sr Trujillo, ex-clerk in the local town hall and then rising to become the chauffeur of Sr Guerrero, climbed high and in relatively little time, certainly not enough time to live in the luxury that he did.
The Chauffeur received subventions (450,000 euros) for a chicken farm that never had any chickens, but it did have two restaurants and a hotel. Those were the good times, with grants for fictional companies in fictional hard times, allegedly ending up instead on wild, coke-fuelled parties and juicy real-estate purchases.
The case is dripping with other equally incredible details, enough to sink all hope of the governing party surviving the coming regional elections on March the 25th this year.
(News: Andujar, Jaen, Andalucia)