Francis Camps
Francisco Enrique Camps Ortiz (Valencia, August 28, 1962) is a doctor of Law and Spanish politician belonging to the ranks of the Popular Party of the Valencian Community, who served as president of the Generalitat Valencian between June 2003 and July 2011.
He became the fifth president of the Generalitat Valenciana after the autonomous stage that began after the Spanish Transition, succeeding José Luis Olivas in office, after the autonomous elections of 2003, when the Popular Party (PP) obtained an absolute majority in the Valencian Courts. Indicted since 2009 in the cause of the suits , within the Gürtel case, he finally submitted his resignation as president of the Generalitat Valenciana on the afternoon of July 20, 2011, remaining in office until the election of a new president. He was acquitted on January 25, 2012, with five votes in favor and four against by the popular jury, which considered that "they did not receive any gift in consideration of his position."
Graduate in Law from the University of Valencia and doctor from the Miguel Hernández University, he is married and has three children. He was named adoptive son of Torrevieja in January 2010. Since July 2011 he is an ex officio counselor of the Valencian Community Legal Advisory Council for having been president of the Generalitat Valenciana.
Biography
His childhood was spent in Borbotó, a district of the municipality of Valencia. He studied at the Jesuit College in Valencia and later graduated in Law. His university stage aroused the political concerns that led him to join the New Generations of Alianza Popular in 1982.
Valencia City Councilor (1991-1996)
In the local elections of May 26, 1991, he was elected councilor of the Valencia City Council and was appointed head of Traffic. During this stage he also presided over the EMT Valencia.
After being re-elected councilor in May 1995, he was first lieutenant of the mayoress Rita Barberá, councilor Delegate for Finance and Patrimony and spokesperson for the popular group. He also assumed the Presidency of the Municipal Finance Commission.
Deputy in Congress for Valencia (1996-1997)
In the general elections of March 3, 1996, he led the candidacy for Valencia to the Congress of Deputies and was the coordinator of the campaign of the Popular Party of the Valencian Community. In the Congress of Deputies he carried out the functions of spokesman in the Infrastructure Commission and member in the Defense Commission.
Minister of Culture, Education and Science (1997-1999)
On February 22, 1997, he took office as Minister of Culture and Education in the Valencian Government chaired by Eduardo Zaplana.
Secretary of State for Territorial Administrations (1999-2000)
Only two years later, on January 22, 1999, the then Minister of Justice and Public Administration, Ángel Acebes, appointed him Secretary of State for Territorial Administrations in the framework of the remodeling of the government carried out by the president Jose Maria Aznar. He held this position until April 2000.
National Deputy and First Vice President of Congress (2000-2002)
In the general elections of 2000, he once again led the candidacy for Congress for the electoral constituency of Valencia and was elected deputy in a chamber with an absolute majority of the Popular Party. On April 5, he was appointed first vice president of the Congress of Deputies, together with the president of the Congress, Luisa Fernanda Rudi.
Government Delegate in the Valencian Community (2002)
On April 5, 2002, he was appointed government delegate in the Valencian Community. However, on July 9, 2002, Eduardo Zaplana left the presidency to occupy the portfolio of Labor in the Government of Spain and placed José Luis Olivas Martinez in charge. This, however, appointed Camps as the PP candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat Valenciana, which forced him to abandon his position as delegate on September 10 and dedicate himself fully to the candidacy.
President of the Generalitat Valenciana (2003-2011)
VI Legislature (2003-2007): on May 25, 2003, Francisco Camps won the regional elections with an absolute majority. With 1,146,780 votes, the Popular Party obtained 48 seats in Las Cortes compared to 35 for the PSPV-PSOE and 6 for the Entesa. Gradually he consolidated his power and in 2004 he was elected president of the PPCV, which deteriorated his relations with Eduardo Zaplana to the point that the national president of his party, Mariano Rajoy, would have to intervene as appeaser in February 2007. [citation required]
VII Legislature (2007-2011): in the elections to the Valencian Parliament of 2007 held on May 27, and already being president of the PPCV, Francisco Camps revalidated his absolute majority reaching 1,227. 458 votes, which represented 53.27% of the votes for the candidacy. This victory gave the Popular Party of the Valencian Community 54 of the 99 seats, while the PSPV-PSOE obtained 38 seats and Compromís pel País Valencià a total of 7. In this way, Francisco Camps was renamed President of the Generalitat, a position that would make it compatible with the presidency of the PP in the Community.
8th Legislature (2011-2015): on May 22, 2011, Francisco Camps won the elections again by an absolute majority, with fewer votes but more seats. On July 20 of that year, punctuated by the Gürtel case, he decided to resign from the presidency reiterating his innocence at all times.
Gürtel case
At the beginning of 2009, the judge of the National Court Baltasar Garzón accused Francisco Camps as allegedly involved in the corruption plot of the so-called Gürtel case, according to the report of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, Camps being registered as a parliamentarian autonomous community, Judge Garzón was forced to recuse himself in favor of the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community (TSJCV) in accordance with the provisions of the Spanish Criminal Procedure Law.
On May 15, 2009, Camps was charged once again in the Gürtel case —on this occasion by the TSJCV— for committing a crime of bribery for an alleged acceptance of a gift (the acceptance of branded suits valued at 12 000 euros).
After a first statement, five days later, on May 20, the TSJCV decided to maintain the accusations against Camps, and three months later the TSJCV itself would archive the case, agreeing to its free dismissal. of the newspaper El País of September 26 alludes to the full knowledge of the plot by Francisco Camps, exhibiting some data contained in some police reports that the TSJCV refused to assess as evidence.
Francisco Camps dismissed the secretary of the PPCV and a trusted person, Ricardo Costa, as a result of the pressure exerted by the national leadership of his party to disassociate the PP itself from the corruption plot.
In May 2010, a Supreme Court ruling ordered the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community to reopen the investigation of the case against Camps for committing a crime of improper bribery, having accepted twelve suits, four Americans, five pairs of shoes and four ties for a total value of 14,021.5 euros, as a public representative, allegedly of the Gürtel plot.
Despite all this, Mariano Rajoy reaffirmed Camps as the PP candidate for the Valencian Generalitat, and the PPCV lists for the regional elections presented nine implicated in the Gürtel plot (Camps among them) and in the case Brugal. Months after his resignation as president of the Generalitat in July 2011, the trial against him and Ricardo Costa was held. Finally, he was acquitted of the charges on January 25, 2012. The former president of the Valencian Generalitat and the former secretary of the Popular Party of Valencia, Ricardo Costa, were found not guilty. In April 2013, the Supreme Court ratified the verdict of the popular jury, which closed the "case of the suits".
During the trial by the Valencian branch of the Gürtel case at the National Court, on January 24, 2018, Ricardo Costa, a former collaborator of Francisco Camps, declared: "Yes, it is true that the PP financed itself with black money". For his part, Camps expressed himself in the opposite direction to the media: "I deny the illegal financing of the Popular Party". investigations by the Public Prosecutor's Office on "Popular Associations" in Alicante and other places in the Valencian Community.In this National Court trial, Camps testified as a witness on March 7, 2018, when he answered the question "Who sent Pérez?" with these words: "The president of the party. Eduardo Zaplana".
Formula 1 Case
Francisco Camps was investigated in the "Valencia Formula 1 case", even defending himself as a lawyer. The investigations are carried out in Investigating Courts 2 and 17 from Valencia.
On July 9, 2019, the case against Francisco Camps was filed by the Provincial Court of Valencia.[1]
Case Visit of the Pope
In February 2018, the Investigating Court 5 of Valencia accused Camps in the investigation of the contracts related to the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Valencia in 2006 on the occasion of the V World Meeting of Families.
On December 11, 2020, the case against Camps and the others investigated was filed.
Acquittals and archives of court cases
On November 16, 2021, the Investigating Court files the case of the Formula 1 case against Francisco Camps. With this resolution, they represent 9 of the 10 cases that were being pursued against him, have been filed or he has been acquitted. Therefore, he is the politician of Valencian origin with the most acquittals and files of judicial cases in Spain, all without being judicially convicted by any sentence.