The main defendant in a 178,000 euro scam committed a decade ago in Lanzarote is on the run from justice and wanted, and this Wednesday he did not appear at the trial that was to be held before the Sixth Section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas. For their part, the other four defendants who have sat in the dock - Nahyr Arrimada, Ubay Morales, José Alejandro Ramos and Juan Luis Reguera - have confessed to the facts after reaching an agreement with the Prosecutor's Office, by which they will avoid imprisonment.
All of them have accepted sentences of between six months and two years in prison, in addition to the payment of fines and the return of the money that each one contributed to swindle from different financial institutions. As for the sixth defendant in the case, he died during the investigation, which was stopped for more than five years.
“Are you aware of the facts for which you are accused? Are the facts true?”, the president of the Sixth Section has been asking each of the defendants, who have confirmed only with a “yes” both their confession and the acceptance of the sentences, so that a judgment of conformity will be passed directly, without holding the trial.
However, the main defendant, Iván Rambla, is still awaiting trial, and the Prosecutor's Office has stressed that all will be summoned as witnesses in case he is located and can be brought to justice. For him, the highest penalty of 10 and a half years in prison was requested, since he was also accused of two crimes against the administration of justice, for having threatened two other defendants not to confess or betray him.
The events occurred between April and September 2011, and to carry out the scam they made different purchases, mostly vehicles, financing the payment and using false names, so they did not pay the monthly payments later. And for this, they had the complicity of the workers of two dealerships and another person who helped them to falsify payrolls. The three have sat this Tuesday in the dock and have confessed the facts before the Court.
Of six defendants, only four have reached the trial
According to the Prosecutor's Office, Iván Rambla was the leader of the plot and made the purchases personally or through the other two defendants: his friend Nahyr Arrimada and M.MD., who died during the investigation, so he could not be tried either. For her, the Prosecutor's Office initially requested 5 and a half years in prison, but after the agreement it has been reduced to 2 years, which is what the accused has accepted, and which would allow the suspension of the execution of the prison sentence.
Both the prosecutor and the lawyer of the defendant have stressed that in her case she has already returned at least part of the money to the financial institutions. She has also accepted the payment of a fine of 1,080 euros.
For their part, Ubay Morales and José Alejandro Ramos have accepted the same fine and one year in prison, in addition to the joint return of the money that each one contributed to swindle, which amounts to about 29,000 and 15,000 euros, respectively. The first was a worker of a dealership and the second delivered falsified payrolls of his company to the other defendants, so that they could make the purchases financed with false names.
As for Juan Luis Reguera, who worked in another of the dealerships, he has accepted 6 months in prison and a fine of 540 euros. In his case, the Prosecutor's Office has reduced the crime for which he was initially accused, eliminating the crime of documentary falsification and maintaining only that of fraud, as an accomplice. Regarding the return of the money, he is claimed about 46,000 euros, although the prosecutor has stressed that he will only be subsidiarily responsible, having to respond to that sum in the first instance the leader of the plot, who is the one who has not been able to be tried and is wanted.
Five years of instruction and another five with the case stopped
The instruction of the case began in 2011, after they tried to carry out the same scam in another dealership. “Given the reluctance of the financial institution, Iván Rambla offered the representative of the dealership the amount of 1,000 euros so that he would help him to get the operation with falsified documentation, not acceding to his proposal and not carrying out the acquisition of the vehicle”, the Prosecutor's Office stated in its indictment.
After a procedure that lasted five years, the instruction ended in 2016. However, from May of that year until a few months ago, when the trial date was finally set for this Tuesday, the case was stopped, while the main defendant fled from justice and another of them died.
Payments to one of the dealership workers
In total, between April and September 2011 they bought with a false name seven cars and four motorcycles, a sofa of 4,000 euros and a television and household goods for an amount of 2,544 euros in different establishments of the island, financing all the acquisitions. Afterwards, a few days later they sold them, before the financial institutions could register their reservation of ownership, and kept the cash.
In addition, in two of the cases the purchase was not even completed and Iván Rambla got the loan money with the complicity of the representative of one of the motorcycle dealerships, Ubay Morales. He, as he has confessed, gave the money that the financial institution had given to the establishment, without formalizing the acquisition, in exchange on one occasion for 200 euros and on another for 150 euros.
The trial was to last three days, with the declaration of numerous experts and witnesses, but finally the hearing has not been held, having reached an agreement the only four defendants who have sat in the dock. Now, the search for Iván Ramos will continue, who ten years after the instruction began is in an unknown location.