Money for jobless spent on cocaine and partying
The driver of the former director of the Junta de Andalucia's Labour Department told police in December that subsidies intended to help companies with labour problems had been spent on cocaine and partying, according to a report revealed by the ABC newspaper on Sunday. Juan Francisco Trujillo said his former boss, Francisco Javier Guerrero, had given him €900,000 in 2004 from the so-called ERE subsidies to spend. Trujillo said he bought a flat in Sevilla and a plot of land in the mountains before returning the rest of the money to his then boss. He told police that “We spent most of it on cocaine and partying”.
Police have been investigating EREgate – as it was dubbed in the press – since it was discovered just over a year ago that Junta officials had been using for their own ends millions of euros intended to help struggling companies with severance pay and early retirement for surplus workers. In a separate case, police have accused Ivan Chaves, the son of former Junta premier Manuel Chaves, of being involved in influence trafficking. Socialist Party spokeswoman Elena Valenciano said on Monday both sets of revelations were part of an ongoing campaign to blacken the name of the former Junta premier.
Chaves was made third deputy PM by Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero just under two years ago, shortly after it was revealed that the Junta he then headed had awarded a subsidy of €10 million to a Huelva company where his daughter worked as a legal consultant.
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