Head of layoff-fund scam and driver “spent 25,000 euros a month on drugs,” court hears

The former chauffeur of an ex-official in the Andalusian administration at the head of an alleged multimillion-euro layoff scam involving public funds said on Tuesday that he and his boss spent tens of thousands of euros of the region’s money on cocaine every month.

Juan Francisco Trujillo, the then-driver of regional employment office chief Javier Guerrero, told Judge Mercedes Ayala that he and his boss spent around 25,000 euros a month on cocaine that they shared in “marathon sessions.” They consumed up to five grams a day.

Trujillo received 1.3 million euros from a 650-million slush fund managed by Guerrero that was allegedly used to pay generous but unmerited early retirement packages to friends, family members and political allies.

The fund was meant to be used to help ailing companies pay the severance pay of surplus workers they laid off.

Of the 1.3 million euros he received, Trujillo shared 450,000 euros with a former Socialist mayor, and apart from 500,000 euros to buy property, spent the rest on cocaine and luxury items. Trujillo told the judge he made up “little bags” of cocaine for Guerrero. He said he purchased the drug in a neighborhood in Seville from the son of a hotel owner.

The former driver also said he received 6,000 euros for compiling two fake reports for two companies whose layoffs had been subsidized by the local authorities. Trujillo also confessed to falsifying the signature of his mother in order to receive a pay-out from an insurance policy worth 122,000 euros, which he also spent on cocaine.

The events took place when he worked for Guerrero from 2003 to 2007. Trujillo faces 11 charges, including bribery, influence-peddling and document fraud.