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Diari de Catalunya

Agreement with Prosecutor's Office avoids trial for two key Innova case defendants

Two of the main individuals investigated in the Innova case, which has lasted fourteen years, have reached an agreement with the Prosecutor's Office to avoid an oral trial at the Audiencia de Tarrago…

Generic image of a judge's gavel on a wooden desk in a courtroom.
IA

Generic image of a judge's gavel on a wooden desk in a courtroom.

The Prosecutor's Office has reached an agreement with two of the eight main defendants in the Innova case, thus avoiding the oral trial that was scheduled to begin on May 26 at the Audiencia de Tarragona.

This agreement, the content of which will be made public on the day the trial begins, implies that one of the defendants, the former president of the Institut Català de la Salut (ICS) and former general director of Innova, acknowledges the crimes of falsehood, embezzlement, and prevarication. It has not been specified whether the agreement of the other defendant, an architect, has been formalized under the same terms.
Initially, the Prosecutor's Office sought eight years in prison and twenty years of disqualification from holding public office for both, in addition to two years in prison and a fine of 200,000 euros for influence peddling. The announcement of the agreement occurred during the first session of preliminary questions of the macro-case, which investigates alleged irregularities committed in connection with the construction of the Hospital Sant Joan de Reus and comes to trial fourteen years after the judicial investigation began.
The hearing held at the Audiencia de Tarragona served to address technical and procedural aspects prior to the start of the oral trial. During this process, the parties communicated the agreement reached with the two investigated individuals, who held positions of responsibility in the health and infrastructure management sectors. One of them was general director of Innova between 2007 and 2011, while the other was a technical advisor for Innova after leaving the health administration.
The Prosecutor's Office attributed to them continuous crimes of prevarication, embezzlement of public funds, document forgery, and influence peddling for allegedly irregular contracts linked to the construction of the new hospital. It was argued that one of the defendants simultaneously worked for Innova and for the UTE awarded the project, generating an overcharge for public coffers.
For now, neither the Prosecutor's Office nor the defenses have detailed the scope of the agreements or the possible reductions in penalties. The main cause of the Innova case includes six more defendants, among them the former mayor of Reus and several former executives. The judicial investigation began in 2012 and has lasted for more than a decade, with several separate parts that were archived. The trial was already scheduled to be held in May 2024, but was postponed due to the health of one of the defendants.
According to the indictment, Innova allegedly awarded contracts and consultancies without following legal public procurement procedures, favoring certain officials and companies linked to the hospital project. Among the investigated irregularities are the hiring of external advisors and the modification of the contract awarded to the UTE responsible for the technical monitoring of the work.

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