Orihuela mayor Pepe Vegara has told a court that board members of ITV Vega Baja signed company documents without examining them because they had complete trust in the firm’s manager.
Vegara gave evidence on Thursday as a defendant in an ongoing trial over alleged tax fraud linked to the sale of promotional diaries between late 2004 and 2005.
At the time, Vegara was a member of the board of Estación ITV Vega Baja, the company operating the vehicle inspection station.
The Spanish Tax Agency is investigating the purchase of 100,000 promotional diaries from Orikoffee SL, which were intended to be given to customers as an incentive to use the ITV centre.
Investigators questioned the sharp increase in the price of the diaries as they passed through several intermediary companies. The original unit price was said to be €1.31, while Orikoffee eventually sold them to ITV Vega Baja for €17 each.
A Tax Agency expert described the final price as “exorbitant”, “fictitious” and “inflated”.
However, an expert called by the defence challenged the Tax Agency’s calculations and claimed its report contained serious errors.
The defence expert acknowledged that there may have been small discrepancies in the company’s tax declarations but argued that they did not exceed the €120,000 threshold required for the matter to be treated as a criminal offence rather than an administrative violation.
The price of the diaries was repeatedly discussed during the hearing. The defendants argued that the €17 charge did not cover only one diary, but included two separate publications: a technical glossary and a telephone directory.
Former Orikoffee administrator Vicente Casanova said payment was made over several years through bank transfers and cash. He claimed that two invoices were later transferred to another company, Autos Ramón.
However, Manuel Ramón Pérez Zambrana, the current administrator of Autos Ramón, said the company never received the money.
Other defendants, including Ricardo Pérez and María del Carmen Cutillas, told the court that their positions on the ITV Vega Baja board were largely symbolic and that Ramón Pérez was responsible for managing the business.
Vegara gave a similar account, saying the board members did not meet to make operational decisions and merely represented their respective families.
Vegara also admitted that he and Ricardo Pérez signed the contract for the promotional diaries without reading it.
“We did not negotiate anything with the companies, nor did we question Ramón Pérez’s decisions,” he said. “We always signed based on the complete trust we had, and still have, in the person who managed ITV Vega Baja.”
Vegara said he had confidence in Pérez’s ability to negotiate business transactions and believed he always tried to balance price and quality.
He also told the court that he was not regularly present at the ITV Vega Baja offices during the period under investigation because he had been working for another company in Murcia since 2003.
“In 2004 and 2005, I was not physically at the ITV Vega Baja station,” he said. “I worked 30 kilometres away, so it was not possible for me to manage anything there.”
The trial is expected to conclude on Thursday, July 16, when the defence lawyers, state attorney and prosecutor will present their closing arguments.
Speaking outside the courthouse, Vegara said he hoped the proceedings would finally bring an end to a case that has lasted for around 20 years.
“I hope justice is done, that everything is clarified and, above all, that this nightmare finally comes to an end,” he said.
