Former Madrid PP leader Francisco Granados sentenced to two and a half years for rigging festival contracts in Púnica case
Spain’s National Court sentenced Francisco Granados, former secretary general of the PP in Madrid and deputy to regional president Esperanza Aguirre, to two and a half years in prison for fraud and prevarication linked to rigged festival contracts awarded to Waiter Music between 2004 and 2015.
The sentence
The Spanish National Court (Audiencia Nacional) convicted Francisco Granados on 2 July 2026 to two years and six months of imprisonment for a continuing offence of fraud, plus eight years and six months of special disqualification from public employment or office for continuing prevarication. The court ruled that Granados, once the second-ranking figure in the Madrid regional government under Esperanza Aguirre, did not act as a direct contract manager but as a driving force and facilitator of the scheme from a position of political power and decisive influence.
Granados maintained a continuing capability to influence decision-making bodies, without holding formal administrative competence, and benefited from the relationship through the systematic receipt of undeclared benefits in kind, consisting of private events paid for by the businessman.
The Waiter Music scheme
The sentence stems from the Waiter Music branch of the sprawling Púnica corruption investigation. Between 2004 and 2013 the firm, owned by the now deceased businessman José Luis Huertas, secured contracts to organise patron-saint festivals and other events in multiple municipalities governed by the People’s Party in the Madrid region, including Valdemoro, Móstoles, Ciempozuelos, Moraleja de Enmedio, San Martín de la Vega, Algete, Chinchón, Torrejón de Velasco and Humanes. In many cases the procurement files were preordained to award the work to Waiter Music or companies controlled by Huertas. The firm also worked for construction groups such as FCC, Acciona, Ferrovial Dragados, Sacyr and OHL on events linked to Metro de Madrid expansion projects.
Other convicted officials
Fourteen people stood trial in this separate piece of the Púnica case. Alongside Granados, former Valdemoro mayors José Carlos Boza received a four-year prison term and José Miguel Moreno two years; the former mayors of Ciempozuelos, María Ángeles Herrera, and Moraleja de Enmedio, Carlos Alberto Estrada, were each sentenced to two years. The court acquitted former Móstoles mayors Esteban Parro and Daniel Ortiz Espejo, as well as two other defendants.
A long-running investigation
The Púnica case was opened in 2014 and split into more than ten lines of inquiry. This is Granados’s first major corruption trial in the affair, though he was sentenced in 2017 to two years for receiving a tip-off from a Guardia Civil officer about the probe, a conviction later upheld by the Supreme Court. The prosecution had sought as much as six years for the Waiter Music charges but later lowered its request to three years before the trial held in early 2026.
- Waiter Music begins working with Valdemoro municipality.
- Granados allegedly uses his influence to steer contracts and secure public funding for a Waiter Music concert.
- The Púnica corruption investigation is opened.
- Granados receives a two-year sentence for receiving a tip-off from a Guardia Civil officer.
- Fourteen defendants, including Granados, stand trial in the Waiter Music branch.
- The National Court hands down the 2.5-year sentence for fraud and prevarication.
The court’s rationale
The judges concluded that the contracts, when they existed, were directed toward Waiter Music or Huertas-controlled firms and that politicians received extra services on demand, either during the festivals themselves or as private events financed by the businessman. The ruling underlines that Granados exerted influence over municipal and regional officials to steer public money toward the company while enjoying personal benefits in return.
