Nummaria Case: Imanol Arias makes an settlement with Anticorruption to keep away from jail and Ana Duato defends her innocence | Economy | EUROtoday

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The National Court held this Tuesday the primary session of the trial of the so-called within the case of Numaria, the fraud plot towards the Tax Agency by which the actors Imanol Arias and Ana Duato have been concerned. The protagonist of Tell me the way it occurred has confronted the start of the oral listening to together with his judicial future clear, since he has reached an settlement in accordance with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office that enables him to keep away from a sentence that would contain going to jail, as confirmed by authorized sources. Thanks to this pact, Arias' sentence might be lower than two years in jail, a substantial discount from the 27 years in jail that the prosecutor requested for him for six crimes for tax fraud of two.7 million between 2010 and 2015. , which has already been reinstated. On the opposite hand, her co-star within the tv sequence has maintained her refusal to shut any kind of settlement with the prosecution, since that, based on sources near her, would imply acknowledging guilt for some tax crimes that, as she defends , has not dedicated.

Arias joins the record of defendants who’ve reached an settlement with the Prosecutor's Office, in alternate for recognizing the felony acts attributed to them, that’s, they participated in or took benefit of the company community created by the Nummaria workplace, headed by the prosecutor. Fernando Peña, each in Spain and in England, Costa Rica, Canada, Uruguay or Luxembourg with the purpose of avoiding taxes. These agreements are extendable to the State Attorney's Office, which has additionally closed two agreements of conformity. In the case of the interpreter, the authorized companies requested 28 years in jail, as did his co-star.

“I never thought I was going to go to jail,” Arias instructed the press after ending the day this Tuesday. In statements to the media, who have been ready on the doorways of the headquarters of the National Court in San Fernando de Henares (Madrid), the artist acknowledged that “it is going to be a long trial” and that he’s “a neophyte in all this.” “, since he has never faced a judicial process, “not even for a effective.” In this sense, he has regretted that the time he has to be present at the courthouse affects the play that he is performing in Argentina, since the performances have to be suspended.

The actor Imanol Arias attends the Nummaria trial for alleged fraud against the Treasury, this Tuesday at the headquarters of the National Court in Madrid.
The actor Imanol Arias attends the Nummaria trial for alleged fraud against the Treasury, this Tuesday at the headquarters of the National Court in Madrid.FERNANDO ALVARADO (EFE)

For this reason, his defense has asked the court that the actor be the first to testify in order to be absent from the trial, which is scheduled to last until September. The president of the court, Judge Ana Revuelta, has announced that all the accused who have signed an agreement with the accusations will be the first to be interrogated, without expressly mentioning Arias' agreement.

For his part, Duato has maintained his intention to continue the trial until the end without reaching any agreement with Anticorruption, represented in this case by prosecutor Tomás Herranz, according to the legal sources consulted. The actress is accused of seven tax crimes for the alleged fraud of 1.9 million euros between 2010 and 2012 and 2014 and 2017, of which she has already regularized 970,000 euros, and faces a request for 32 years in prison.

According to Anticorrupción in its provisional indictment, the actors would have paid less taxes on their income generated by their professional activity, mainly from their participation in the RTVE series, by transferring their image rights to companies controlled by Peña, which were in charge of signing contracts with third parties and billing for the services performed. “Next, they set a remuneration [para los intérpretes] for an amount much lower than what was billed, in the form of a life annuity,” highlights the public ministry.

Among the accused is also the actress's husband, producer Miguel Ángel Bernadeu, for whom 18 and a half years in prison are requested. Although, the largest request for conviction falls on the considered architect of the entire plot, Fernando Peña, responsible for tax advice, who faces a request for 298 years and nine months in prison for 63 crimes against the Public Treasury, three of falsehood. documentary, two of insolvency, in addition to procedural fraud and membership in a criminal organization. Also on the bench was Imanol Arias' sister, Ana Isabel, for whom Anti-Corruption and the State Attorney's Office have withdrawn the accusation at the beginning of the trial, as announced in court.

From the second row

The beginning of the oral hearing, which Ana Duato and Imanol Arias have witnessed from the second row of the accused's dock, takes place eight years after the investigation began, with the police search of the Nummaria office. The difficulty of finding a courtroom to gather the thirty defendants and their defenses, as well as to balance the agendas of the court and the lawyers, has delayed the holding of the trial.

The actress Ana Duato in the dock of the accused in the Nummaria trial, this Tuesday at the National Court.
The actress Ana Duato in the dock of the accused in the Nummaria trial, this Tuesday at the National Court.FERNANDO ALVARADO (EFE)

The trial has begun with preliminary issues, the phase in which the defenses raise nullities of evidence and violations of law to try to annul the procedure. This has been done by Antonio Camacho, lawyer of the former Treasury inspector and well-known tax advisor to VIP clients, Fernando Peña, who has argued that the instruction has been based on documentation seized in the searches that took place in April 2016 with “irregularities” in the chain of custody and to which, as he has emphasized, not all parties were given complete access. Likewise, he has insisted that “there is no concealment [a Hacienda] by none of those investigated” and therefore believes that the trial “has feet of clay.”

Furthermore, throughout his presentation, the lawyer has pointed out a possible manipulation of the case by the National Fraud Investigation Office (ONIF), then led by Margarita García Valdecasas —whose partner, Alejandro Pérez Calzada, was a partner. de Peña in the 90s—by carrying out a series of “alterations, modifications and deletion of files.” He recalled that the Investigative Court number 41 of Madrid is investigating whether the former head of Anti-Fraud ordered said action.

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https://elpais.com/economia/2024-06-04/imanol-arias-pacta-con-anticorrupcion-para-eludir-la-prision-y-ana-duato-defiende-su-inocencia.html