Mata resigns as PSPV trustee in Les Corts to continue as February’s lawyer in the ‘Azud case’

VALENCIA (EP / VP). The trustee of the PSPV in Les Corts Valencianes, Manolo Matahas made the decision to leave the autonomous parliament to focus on the defense of the businessman Jaime Febrer in the Azud case, whose summary secrecy has recently been lifted. Mata communicated this Friday the decision to the president of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig.

The former lawyer and until now socialist spokesman had returned to the shootout for his controversial role in the case: representing the PSPV group in the regional parliament and being a lawyer for one of those investigated in the Azud case, who investigated alleged ‘bites’ in exchange of public works awards of the Valencia City Council and that also has people linked to the PSPV such as Rafa Rubio or José Luis Vera as being investigated. And Mata, at the time under investigation, was already a spokesperson for the party.

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Thus, the conflict of interest to which many have alluded, including the president of the PP in the Community, Carlos Mazon, has ended up tipping the balance. So Mata has decided to abandon not only the PSPV spokesperson in Les Corts but also the seat in parliament.

“A few months ago I warned that when the secrecy of the summary was lifted, I would make a decision,” he remarked. For Mata, it is “very complicated” to combine the work of a lawyer with that of spokesperson in Les Corts: “It harms my party, the institution, parliamentarism”, he has admitted, and has indicated that if he continued, he would have been a “duck lame syndic”. Yes, he will continue as deputy general secretary of the PSPV: “I will be a lawyer and a socialist until I die.”

In addition, he has reported that he made the decision on Tuesday when the summary secret was lifted and that on Friday he transferred it to the secretary general of the Socialists and president of Les Corts, Ximo Puig. “He would have preferred that he leave me the other thing. Already in 2019 he told me ‘This is a path that we start together and that we will end together’, but it could not be because I have fallen by the wayside.” However, he has claimed that today is “the happiest day” of his life because being in politics is “very hard”, and it means “always being in the eye of the hurricane”.

After leaving his position, Mata will continue to act as a lawyer for businessman Jaime Febrer, alleged leader of the Azud case, in which alleged ‘bribes’ are being investigated in exchange for public works awards from the Valencia City Council by awarded companies that would have made invoices supposedly fictitious.

Manolo Mata has served as parliamentary spokesman for the PSPV-PSOE in Les Corts for the last seven years, during the two legislatures of the Government of the Botànic.

The day of the Cortes

“I think we are all a little nervous,” commented during her speech at the event the vice president of the Table of Les Corts, also a socialist María José Salvador. And it is that the news has jumped a few minutes before the act began: even though the opposition has spent days demanding the resignation of the Síndic, the moment has surprised.

Mata’s resignation was the subject of a day that was expected to be a celebration, with the awarding of parliamentary distinctions to the former Valencia CF coach, Guus Hiddink; the teacher who suffered a homophobic attack in Bètera, Miquel Àlvarez, and the Ukrainian people.

After leaving his position, Mata will continue to act as a lawyer for businessman Jaime Febrer, alleged leader of the Azud case, in which alleged ‘bribes’ are being investigated in exchange for public works awards from the Valencia City Council by awarded companies that would have made invoices supposedly fictitious.

Manolo Mata has served as parliamentary spokesman for the PSPV-PSOE in Les Corts for the last seven years, during the two legislatures of the Government of the Botànic. Currently, the next person on the list of socialists who could access the seat would be the general director of International Development Cooperation, Xelo Angulo.

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