José Ignacio Vilaplana Luquero arrived at the Court of Instruction No. 6 in Seville in February 2016 to assist the presiding magistrate, María Núñez Bolaños, who needed reinforcements to focus on the most media and politically significant cases in Andalusia.
In nearly 15 years of investigating the ERE case, the judge has also had to dismiss several separate pieces due to formal defects related to the expiration of investigation deadlines set by the Criminal Procedure Law after its reform in 2015.
Vilaplana did not sit idly by. As a judge of Territorial Assignment in Andalusia, he handled the processing of ordinary cases. However, the psychological blow that the magistrate suffered from the complaint filed against her in July 2019 by the head of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office for the "paralysis, neglect, and unjustified delays" in the cases she was handling changed the tide.
With the exception of five (Acyco, Surcolor, aid to the chauffeur of the late Francisco Javier Guerrero, Cenforpre, and a specific proceeding), which were elevated by Núñez Bolaños for trial, 67 have been initiated by Vilaplana.
A father of a large family, Vilaplana commutes daily from Córdoba, where he lives, to the courts in Seville, and this back-and-forth on the road has not detracted in the slightest from his dedication to his task.
Of the 60 ERE case procedures being handled by Judge Vilaplana, 39 are in the preliminary investigation phase, and the remaining 21 are in the intermediate phase after the order was issued to convert the preliminary proceedings into an abbreviated procedure, the step prior to the opening of the oral trial.
"He is very concerned about his training and teaches at Loyola University to pass on his knowledge to the youth," an intimate friend of his tells ABC, recalling his involvement and dedication as a judge of First Instance and Instruction No. 2 in Montilla (Córdoba), his first post.
As of November 3 last year —according to the latest report provided by the press office of the High Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA)—, 132 branches or separate proceedings have emerged from the ERE case file, of which 60 are still in the court of instruction, and the investigations of the remaining 72 have concluded, having been referred to the Seville Provincial Court.
In the previous five, the bulk of the work was also not done by the presiding judge, but by the previous reinforcement judge, Álvaro Martín, current president of the Seville Court, who had already streamlined the pieces affecting two dozen political figures, as well as those of Surcolor and Acyco.
First, the reinforcement judge replaced the presiding judge during successive medical leaves coinciding with the file (and later archived) by the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), and from September 2020, by mutual agreement with Bolaños, newly incorporated into the court, he assumed sole instruction of the macro-cases.
In the five years, two months, and half that have passed since the governing board of the High Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA) approved the new redistribution of tasks and the exchange of roles, the instructor of the ERE case has elevated to the Seville Provincial Court for trial a total of 67 separate pieces of the preliminary proceedings 174/2011, the main case opened by Alaya on January 19, 2011.
However, deaths and dismissals due to statute of limitations or lack of criminal evidence have ultimately reduced the number of accused.
And Vilaplana's fate.
What appeared to Manuel Chaves to be the work of a few hoodlums ultimately ended up taking down the former Andalusian president himself and his successor in office, José Antonio Griñán, two symbolic figures of socialism, who were tried by Section One, convicted in firm judgment by the Supreme Court, and then only partially protected by a divided Constitutional Court in the main piece of this macro-process, that of the specific proceeding, which put two dozen former political figures on the bench.
More than 679 million euros distributed opaquely
Meanwhile, José Ignacio Vilaplana has continued to pull the thread to unravel the judicial truth of what happened with the irregular subsidies.
Since replacing Mercedes Alaya in June 2015, the former family judge took over the macro-corruption cases that put the Andalusian socialists, who had governed this community for over three decades, on the ropes (ERE case or the training fraud).
Of the 72 concluded cases, 26 have a sentence, two were pending a ruling as of November 3 after the trial was held, and two were in full oral proceedings.
Of the 72 ERE case pieces already concluded and sent to the Provincial Court, 26 already have a sentence.
Magistrate Vilaplana has stepped hard on the accelerator of a complex case that had previously passed through the hands of six different judges.
"He is one of the judges who truly believes his work is a public service and tries to move it forward with a great sense of responsibility and duty," states one of the lawyers who has dealt with him the most.
The only thing on which everyone seems to agree, including some lawyers defending the investigated, is in highlighting that he is extremely professional and rigorous.
He is preparing a consultation or prejudicial question before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to try to reopen corruption cases with dozens of former high-ranking socialists accused of alleged embezzlement of public funds and money laundering, among other crimes.
The objective is to prevent cases like IDEA Agency's Avales II, the Santana Motor process against the husband of the former Director of the Civil Guard María Gámez, as well as various separate pieces of the ERE, from falling through due to a formal defect.
Source ABC
With the support of the Central Operational Unit of the Civil Guard, the state auditors, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, and the accusations from the PP and the Junta, he has tried to ascertain the destination of the 679,432,179.09 euros distributed among entities, companies, and town councils governed by the PSOE through an opaque and arbitrary procedure that functioned for a decade (2000-2009) in the Junta of Andalusia.
With a home in Córdoba and a father of a large family
With discretion and an immense amount of work, the investigating magistrate, who belongs to the Professional Association of the Magistracy (APM), has been fitting all the pieces of the ERE judicial puzzle into place.
More than 500 investigated
Given the complexity of obtaining the data, the TSJA has not been able to provide the current number of investigated persons, which at the beginning of the instruction exceeded 500.
