One of the longest-running phases of the ERE subsidy fraud investigation has concluded in Seville: Judge José Ignacio Villaplana is stepping down after seven years in office, having forwarded 76 cases to court and leaving another 57 still under investigation or in an intermediate phase. He will be succeeded by María Elena Pérez, formerly of the family court, who is set to head the city’s Sixth Investigative Court.
Case transfer and staff changes
The Standing Committee of the General Council of the Judiciary has approved Villaplana’s transfer to a criminal court in Córdoba effective May 4. His position will be filled by María Elena Pérez Caro, who replaces María Núñez, previously reassigned to the Third Section of the Seville court. Both judges have requested additional time from the council to transfer files related to the case, which began 15 years ago under Mercedes Alaya’s direction.
Pérez, coming from the family court, will have to decide whether she needs an additional judge to handle the ERE case, given the volume and complexity of the remaining files. If the workload proves excessive, she can request reinforcement for the court, which is still handling hundreds of cases of varying nature.
Investigation status and key figures
The Sixth Investigative Court of Seville is under close scrutiny, as it is here that the fate of former high-ranking officials of Andalusia and major regional entrepreneurs is being decided. However, the scale of the case is gradually shrinking: out of 133 separated episodes, 76 have already been referred to court, and 29 of them have ended with verdicts—both convictions and acquittals. Among the cases considered are episodes involving the companies Acyco, Siemens, and the municipality of Los Palacios.
In the most recent completed trial, former director for labor of the Andalusian government, Daniel Alberto Rivera, was acquitted in the Instaladora Moderna de Electricidad case due to lack of evidence that he was aware of violations during the granting of subsidies in 2005. Four more cases await verdicts after hearings have concluded, including episodes involving businessmen José María Sayago and José Enrique Rosendo, as well as the companies Consyproan, Fabricantes de Encimeras, and Tioxide Europe.
Political dimension and disputes over verdicts
A special role is played by the so-called ‘political’ part of the case, in which former Andalusian presidents Manuel Chaves and José Antonio Griñán, along with 17 former officials, were convicted in 2019 for abuse of office and embezzlement. Judges found that the regional leadership facilitated the allocation of multimillion-euro subsidies while bypassing financial oversight. However, two years ago the Constitutional Court revised the Supreme Court’s position and granted protection to ten former officials, sparking a new round of controversy.
After this, at the request of the prosecution from the People’s Party, the judges in Seville referred the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union to seek clarification on the matter of overturning the verdicts. This week, the European Commission supported the defense’s position, stating that the EU Court has no authority to consider the annulment of the convictions, as the case is not directly related to the EU budget. This contradicts the arguments of the People’s Party and the position of the Seville court, which had refused to rewrite its original verdict.
Context and significance for the region
The ERE case became one of the largest corruption trials in the modern history of Andalusia, covering the period from 2001 to 2009 and involving more than 130 episodes of subsidies totaling €680 million. For comparison, other high-profile trials, such as the “Kitchen operation” investigation in Madrid, also featured senior politicians and issues of oversight of public funds — more details can be found in the article on the interrogation of Mariano Rajoy in the case of surveillance of the former PP treasurer.
With Vilaplana’s departure and Pérez’s appointment to the Sixth Court of Seville, an important stage in the ERE case comes to an end, but dozens of episodes are still awaiting resolution. The decisions in these cases may affect the fate of former officials, entrepreneurs, and municipalities in Andalusia.
