Karrantza has 138 square kilometers, the largest municipality of Bizkaia, although only 2,800 people live in it, a couple of dozens of villages spread here and there. The primary sector remains in place. Cattle can easily be found in the Karrantza grasslands, and the slurries derived from their exploitation, organic waste, cause many environmental problems. The Basque Government launched over a decade ago an initiative to solve this problem.

As a result of this initiative, Karrantzako Minda S.L. Creation of the company in 2005. Its mission was the construction of a purine treatment plant and its subsequent management. Between 2006 and 2009, public grants were requested for the financing of construction works in several administrations (Provincial Council of Bizkaia, Basque Government, Government of Spain) and nearly EUR 10 million were received. Today there is no trace of that money, and the construction works of the plant were paralyzed almost as soon as they began, in autumn 2010, for lack of money. By the beginning of the works, April 2010, the subsidies were already paid. Where was the money?

Alleged crimes

In November 2012 there was a change in the municipal government of Karrantza: The Karrantza Zabala group, now in the mayor's office, and Bildu approved the motion of censure against the mayor of the PNV. In October last year, the new government team filed a complaint against those responsible for the management of the slurry treatment plant, including a public office, as we shall see next. There are already two courts that have taken note of the findings of the complaint and that have seen obvious signs of crime.

One of the dissertations of the complaint is Minda S.L. of Karrantza. That the company, which had apparently been created for the construction of the plant, was just a screen. Those who made decisions and, ultimately, played a leading role in the whole process Ade Biotec S.L. was... Ade Biotec provided the data from the initial reports, Ade Biotec was in charge of selecting the companies that were going to build the plant and, ultimately, Ade Biotec took over the management of the plant for the first 20 years. Why, then, Minda S.L. of Karrantza. "Create? you read it in the querella.

As regards the granting of 20 years for the management of the plant, it should be added that Ade Bioetec had the benefits in any case: If the farmers in Karrantza did not have enough slurries, the Basque Government would guarantee a minimum income for the company. This did not happen, of course, because the plant was not built and it will hardly be built.

False invoices to justify subsidies

On 24 February, at the meeting of the Committee on the Environment and Agriculture of the General Boards of Bizkaia, Bildu Irune Soto’s junk explained that the purines treatment project was used from the outset by several companies close to the PNV to make public money. In particular Ade Biotec. A significant part of the money it received from the administrations was spent on dealing with payments to this company, even though there was nothing to pay for.

The central government received EUR 4 million from the Government of Karrantza, many from the Basque Government, and EUR 2 million from the Provincial Council of Bizkaia. In total, ten million. The complaint states that false information was provided for the application of these subsidies and that false invoices were issued as a justification for the subsidies received. Among others, various costs allegedly incurred in construction works were justified by the documentation submitted by Karrantzako Minda, when it was evident that the works were not started. Incidentally, the complaint underlines that the public administration has acted with a clear lack of control in this matter.

MARTIN Ascacibar

The list of names of the persons reported in the complaint, both physical and associative, is long, but there is a name above the others: Martin Ascacibarrena. It seems to be a lie, but Ascacibar has played a grant party on both sides of the field, both for donors and recipients.

In 2005, Ascacibar was Director of Agricultural Research of the Basque Government. From this position, he requested a report on the models of slurry treatment plants. In 2008, when Minda S.L. de Karrantza applied for subsidy from the Basque Government, a Monitoring Commission was set up for this subsidy, which was appointed as a member of Ascacibar, in which there were only two people. The fact is that since December of the previous year he was also an advisor to Ade Biotec. Therefore, I had to know that the grant applications had no funds, because the alleged activity to be financed was not actually being given.

Ascacibar, who was in the Basque Government until 2009, participated in the grant of a grant to the Minda de Karrantza. Five months after leaving public office he became a member of the Minda de Karrantza, as a counsellor. She is charged with several offences, including the misuse of public money, and is therefore considered a minor offence.

The judges assailed ...

Karrantza Haraneko filed the complaint last October in two courts, one in Bilbao and the other in Balmaseda. The two judges – that of Balmaseda, a couple of weeks ago – have responded in a similar way: there are obvious signs of crime, but they do not accept the complaint. In both cases the argument is the same: it is not for them to judge the facts reported. 4th Bilbao In the order issued by the Court of Instruction No. 2 of Vitoria-Gasteiz it is stated that the alleged crimes have been committed in different places, but that because of their hierarchy it is more convenient to prosecute the whole case in Vitoria-Gasteiz than in Bizkaia. These include, of course, the subsidies granted by the Basque Government.

As the course of the judicial process is clarified, the scandal has recently occurred in the political sphere. At the hearing in the Bizkaia General Meetings, to which we referred earlier, Irune Soto de Bildu accused the Environment Deputy, Irene Pardo, of lack of control and a warm attitude towards the perpetrators of the fraud. In particular, Bildu reproached the Member who had asked for the aid to be refunded very late, one and a half years after the plant's works had been halted. A leader of Bildu has told this magazine his suspicion that the company Minda de Karrantza would like to give him time to enter the creditor competition.

Irene Pardo replied that the Member has acted correctly in this matter and that he has made all the requests within the legal deadlines. The honourable Member said that once the debtors’ competition has been resolved, the Member will decide what the next steps will be. In the absence of any further clarification, PNV, PSE and PP approved a proposal from the former, requesting the repayment of the subsidies granted and the requirement of responsibility to those concerned. Bildu abstained.

Everything was therefore available to the judges.