Mónica Oltra, former Vice President of the Valencian Government, has appeared this Monday before the investigating judge who is investigating the alleged cover-up of the abuses of the ex-husband of the leader of Compromís to a minor under guardianship. The statement, Oltra’s first public appearance since her resignation on June 21, lasted eight hours in total.
The head of the Court of Instruction number 15 of Valencia has carried out an exhaustive interrogation of the former regional vice president, according to sources familiar with the statement. In addition, given the judge’s refusal to record the statement to avoid leaks, the verification of the correct transcription of Oltra’s words has further delayed the hearing, held in one of the rooms on the ground floor of the City of Justice and not in court due to the large influx of lawyers (there are two popular accusations and the defenses of the 13 charges of the department and workers of the center investigated).
Oltra, as she did in her allegations when she was still accountable, has denied that she gave any instruction in the department she directed until her resignation in relation to her ex-husband’s abuse of a minor under guardianship. The former Minister of Equality and Inclusive Policies thus returns to qualify the argument that she offered during a press conference in which she assured that the reserved report on the complaint of abuses had been commissioned by her.
The former vice president has highlighted at the exit of the City of Justice that she has answered all the questions asked by the judge, the Prosecutor’s Office and the rest of the defenses. “I have answered all the questions that have been raised as I have always done from transparency and accountability,” she said before the media after her marathon statement. “I entered serene and calm and I left serene and calm and obviously a little more tired, now is the time for justice and to wait,” she added. Thus, Oltra hopes that her explanations “convince whoever they have to convince.”
The investigation of the case, on the contrary, considers that the reserved report was rather a kind of disciplinary file to benefit the procedural situation of her ex-husband, whose sentence to five years in prison is pending an appeal before the Supreme Court, or to protect his own political career.
The former vice president of the Valencian Executive has been supported by some leaders of the Valencian formation such as Águeda Micó, general secretary of Més Compromís; the autonomic secretaries Iván Castañón and Isaura Navarro; the regional deputy Carles Esteve; Miquel Real, her former chief of staff; the councilors of the City Council of Valencia Giuseppe Grezzi and Pilar Soriano, or Alberto Ibáñez, co-spokesman for Initiative. The statement has been interrupted twice throughout the morning. After 3:00 p.m., the hearing was suspended for two hours.
The agitator Cristina Seguí, who exercises popular accusation, has also attended the City of Justice. Oltra’s statement, which coincided with the first trial session of the ‘Alquería case’, has raised great media expectations. Upon her arrival early in the morning, Oltra has assured that she is “serene and calm”.
Puig trusts Oltra and justice
The president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Ximo Puig, has been convinced that the former vice president Mónica Oltra, “is going to declare the truth, without a doubt” and has stated that he trusts her and “in justice”. “I believe in justice”, underlined the socialist president, who has wished “the best” for the former spokesperson for his Executive, according to statements collected by Europa Press.
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