The Public Prosecutor’s Office denounces the CEO of Gedesco (JZI) for environmental crime in the Albufera of Valencia.

The Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Valencia denounced several months ago the CEO of Gedesco, Antonio Aynat, for a possible environmental crime in the Albufera of Valencia, which has led to the opening of legal proceedings for which the main executive of the financial services company for companies and the self-employed is under investigation.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office decided to denounce Aynat after an intervention by the Environmental Unit of the Local Police of Valencia, which acted after being warned by the management of the natural park in May 2021 of the existence of irregular works in a place of the protected area known as Tancat de L’Alcatí. There is the headquarters of the Valencian Association of Lateen Sailing, which is chaired by the businessman.

The CEO of one of the largest non-banking financial institutions in Spain leased the land in 2014 to a community of irrigators in order to install there a sports and business club dedicated to lateen sailing. It is, according to the complaint, a plot located on undeveloped land, within the Albufera natural park, the Natura 2000 Network and in a cataloged wetland area. Its legal use is exclusively agricultural.

The lease of the land passed in 2018 to a company called Barraca Oryza, whose address coincides with that of Gedesco. This shadow bank is majority owned by the American fund JZI, which is in the midst of a legal battle with its representatives in Spain for control of the entity. Aynat is the founder of Gedesco and a minority shareholder.

Allegedly irregular works The complaint of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, to which El Confidencial had access, gave rise in November 2021 to the opening of legal proceedings by a Court of Instruction of Valencia. The instructor is investigating whether irregular works to build a pier, expand an access bridge, build a stone wall in a ditch or build a house style “onion” may constitute a crime against the environment. Also at issue are the development of an access road on land owned by the Valencia City Council, a drinking water pipeline, earthworks and the installation of high-capacity fiber tanks.

Aynat had already tried to carry out conditioning works on the plot before assigning the lease to Barraca Oryza, but the request was denied by the Valencia City Council on the grounds that it did not meet the park’s protection requirements. The Tancat de l’Alcatí is located in an access area to the navigable area of the Albufera, according to the magazine Economía 3, in which Aynat has interests and which presents the space as a sports-business club, “which aims to promote the sport of lateen sailing, tradition and culture of the Albufera environment. Among its founding purposes are to promote, among the business community, through the sport of lateen sailing, the principles of competitiveness and teamwork. Respecting our environment and our traditions”.

However, this is not what the Prosecutor’s Office interprets. “It has carried out conditioning works on the plot with work without having the appropriate permits from the Administration, fully knowing the special protection of the place as it is a protected natural area, apparently to locate the headquarters of a Latin Sailing association that also does not have the proper registration permits of the Administration to begin to develop its activity,” says the prosecution. This provides reports of the Local Police, images and videos, and argues that it is producing an “erosion” in the place as a result of these works.

Both Aynat and people linked to the project of the Latin Sailing Association, the company Barraca Oryza and the owners of the plot have already gone to testify in court. El Confidencial has tried to contact the head of Gedesco to get their version of the events reported, but there has been no response to the emails sent.

The Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Valencia denounced several months ago the CEO of Gedesco, Antonio Aynat, for a possible environmental crime in the Albufera of Valencia, which has led to the opening of legal proceedings for which the main executive of the financial services company for companies and the self-employed is under investigation.