Eugenia Martínez de Irujo, summoned by the judge as accused of a crime against the environment

Just a few days ago we announced that the Prosecutor’s Office had filed a complaint against El Litri for illegally extracting millions of liters of water next to Doñana. Now she is an ex-girlfriend of the bullfighter, the same Eugenia Martínez de Irujo which has been cited by the judge as being investigated for a crime against the environment.

The Environmental Prosecutor’s Office in Seville filed a complaint last September against the Casa de Alba company Eurotécnica Agraria for eight clandestine wells on a 200-hectare orange farm next to the Doñana National Park, according to publications The country. Thus, the Court of Instruction 1 of Sanlúcar la Mayor has cited the Duchess of Montoro as being investigated for a crime against the environment.

53 million kilos of oranges and 1.4 million in subsidies from European funds

“That property is not my property and I have no connection or responsibility with it”, the only daughter of the Duchess of Alba defends herself. The woman of Narcís Rebollo She is, however, formally the president of Eurotécnica Agraria, the family company that brings together the majority of the Alba companies located between Extremadura and Andalusia, among which is Aljóbar, an immense estate of 200 hectares, the equivalent of about 300 football fields.

The Albas have taken from the Aljobar estate 53.6 million kilos of oranges in the last decade, with an annual profit of between 700,000 and 800,000 euros. The property has received 1.4 million European funds from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) only in the years 2021 and 2022, as reflected by the Spanish Agrarian Guarantee Fund of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

Eugenia appears as an accused because she holds the position of president of that company because it is rotating. Hence, the judge in charge of the matter, Pablo Aragón, anticipates that he will replace the accused with his nephew Luis Martínez de Irujo, son of her brother Alfonso Martínez de Irujo, who is the one who has de facto managed the business.

The complaint states that the eight irregular wells at the Sevillian Aljóbar Estate, in Aznalcázar (Seville), have damaged a body of underground water very close to the reserve for at least a decade, for which the Seprona of the Civil Guard He came this summer to stop the extractions. The Prosecutor’s Office maintains that the Albas committed a crime of disobedience by preventing Seprona agents and technicians from the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation from entering the farm when they came to close the wells on June 12.

Alfonso Martínez de Irujo, who manages the farm with his son Luis, admits that he did not register the wells and that there are “more than necessary.” “It is not illegal, although I should have prioritized this issue,” acknowledges the Duke of Híjar, who has submitted a document to the court so that instead of his sister, his son, manager of the estate for the last few years, should be declared under investigation. years.

The Albas deny having caused damage and allege that the eight open wells do not exceed the amount of water authorized to extract from the aquifer and that they intended to regularize them. However, if this is the case, it is difficult to explain why they camouflaged the supposedly illegal wells with green tarps and hid the electrical panels among the orange trees. “We have not stolen water,” defends the Duke of Aliaga.

The Prosecutor’s Office asks the court to determine the volume extracted with the wells and “if the withdrawal of water has caused substantial damage to the quality of the affected aquifer, if such withdrawal could seriously harm its balance or even if such withdrawal could have created a risk of serious harm to people’s health. In addition, they request the Confederation, attached to the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, to calculate the economic amount of the damages.

Who is Luis Martínez de Irujo y Hohenlohe?

Luis Martínez de Irujo y Hohenlohe is not one of the most high-profile Albas, but his wedding was a social event of the highest level. He has been married for seven years to Adriana Martín Huarte; The wedding was held at the Liria palace in October 2016. The son of the Duke of Aliaga who manages the denounced estate counted among his guests the senior staff of the Spanish aristocracy and the great fortunes, in addition to the Alba family. Some of the groom’s witnesses were his uncle Carlos, Duke of Alba and his sons, Alfonso Hohenlohe Langenburg, Marco Juncadella and Hohenlohe and Hernando de Soto Fitz James-Stuart. And on the bride’s side, members of her maternal family, the Huartes, María Castellanos O’ Shea, Cristina Maura Suelves, Reyes Matossian Güell, Sofía Morenés, María Eulate Gómez-Acebo or Fernando Chávarri Thieu, stepbrother of Marta Chávarri, the children by José María Aznar or Luis Medina, son of Nati Abascal or Sofía Palazuelo, then girlfriend of Fernando Fitz James Stuart and Solís