One of the alleged collaborators of Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s partner in the 350,000 euro tax fraud was tried this Wednesday in the National Court for another case, an alleged document falsification and aggravated fraud. The prisoner is the Sevillian known for having prepared supposedly false invoices in 2021 for the boyfriend of the Madrid president, Alberto González Amador. In 2023, he allegedly defrauded the European mission in Somalia of €70,000 by posing as a regular supplier of medical products. According to researchers, it is a BEC scam (Business E-mail Compromise)a widespread type of scam in which criminals send an email impersonating a provider to achieve money transfers. He faces three years in prison.
Two police officers escorted Herrera Lobato this morning to the headquarters of the National Court in San Fernando de Henares. The Sevillian, about 50 years old, had been arrested in his town of Arahal (20,000 inhabitants) the day before. Today he was dressed in a gray tracksuit and a green coat, and he remained crestfallen during the session of just over an hour.
He has declared himself innocent in court: “I have not profited,” he said after sitting on the bench. “I live with my mother. I play four roles as trusted people in my town, to the few that I have left.” Until recently he ran an agency in the town of Arahal, with almost 20,000 inhabitants, and in recent years he has become the owner of thirty companies of all types. In the case that affects Ayuso’s partner, he used companies without activity to issue false invoices that Amador used to simulate unreal expenses and pay less taxes, according to the investigation.
This Wednesday, the prosecution was represented by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which only intervenes when the financial interests of the European Union are damaged. The complaint was filed by an EU civilian mission dedicated to strengthening maritime security and police capabilities in Somalia. This entity is headquartered in Mogadishu, with field offices in Somaliland and Puntland.
The mission has a regular supplier in Kenya who supplies it with medical supplies. A person whose entity is unknown, but in any case in coordination with Herrera Lobato, allegedly impersonated the identity of this Kenyan company to claim a payment of 69,751.40 euros, according to the investigation. He sent an email where he only slightly changed the domain (the part after the at sign). In that message he requested to change the bank account in which the payment should be made and included an IBAN for a Caixabank account residing in Arahal and to which Herrera Lobato had access, according to three Civil Guard agents. The staff of the European mission in Somalia realized that they had made an improper payment when they were alerted two days later by the Kenyan company.
Herrera Lobato’s lawyer, Ricardo Corzo, has alleged that his client does not have the knowledge to make this “computer trick” and requested his acquittal. In addition, he alleged that there could be others involved who have not been considered by the prosecution. “Not everyone is here,” Corzo said in his final statement. “There is no sentence or provisional prison. This man is wrong.”
Today’s hearing was held after three attempts over the past year that were unsuccessful because Herrera Lobato had not appeared. He alleged this Wednesday that he suffers from health problems. “I provided a medical certificate that I had bent my foot. I had an arrhythmia. I am not obstructing justice,” Herrera Lobato said before concluding the session. The three magistrates have retired to deliberate and have declared the case heard for sentencing.
According to Herrera Lobato’s lawyer, he has no criminal record, but he has previously had other judicial problems. The case that links him to González Amador, which began to be investigated in March 2024 by a judge from Plaza de Castilla, is waiting for the trial date to be set in a Madrid Criminal Court.
In this case, Ayuso’s partner maintains his innocence and defends that they were not false invoices, but rather that they were included by mistake in the accounting of his quality consultancy, Maxwell Cremona. Amador attached 13 invoices for 180,000 euros from six companies located in the town of Herrera Lobato, which were owned by him or two other residents of the town, a waiter and a baker. These companies have as their corporate purpose cleaning activities, newspaper printing or manufacturing activities, among others. Additionally, Amador included two other suspicious invoices issued by a Mexican citizen, Maximiliano Niederer, for alleged business in Mexico and the Ivory Coast, with
Do you have something to tell? Write to the authors at y
