Overview
- The Audiencia Nacional opened the case on January 19, starting proceedings expected to run into March against Francisco Granados and 13 co-defendants.
- The court will examine whether municipal festival contracts were steered to Waiter Music between 2004 and 2013 in Madrid-area towns including Valdemoro, Móstoles, Ciempozuelos and Moraleja de Enmedio.
- Defendants include former PP senator David Erguido and several ex-mayors, with prosecutors alleging that unpaid PP events, private parties and gifts accompanied the contract awards.
- The Comunidad de Madrid supports prosecution and seeks a seven-year sentence for Granados, as earlier rulings set potential civil liabilities of €300,000 for him and €50,000 for each of the other defendants.
- Waiter Music owner José Luis Huerta, now deceased, acknowledged in 2018 that he organized unpaid PP events, and Granados previously received a two-year sentence for a separate police tip-off confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2019.