One of the legitimate owners of the farm where the Stratvs winery was built testified this Wednesday in the trial, recounting the years of "suffering", "huge lies" and helplessness that her family has suffered when trying to confront the businessman Juan Francisco Rosa, who occupied land owned by them to build this macro-complex.
"At the beginning, when the matter begins, nobody wanted to take charge. This man had a lot of power," explained Olga María Ramos de Paiz, recalling the consultations that her children and she had with different lawyers to initiate actions in defense of their rights over that land. "Everyone made an excuse not to take charge of the matter. It is very difficult to go against this man," she insisted.
In addition, she explained that it also took several years to take legal action because they did not know that their property was being occupied until much later. "We found out very late. Also, we didn't pass by there because the road was under construction and was closed," she explained. In fact, the witness maintained that if Rosa "was able to do all that without anyone finding out, it was because the road was closed."
"I found out when the work was almost finished"
In her testimony as a witness, Olga María Ramos explained that she inherited a part of that farm from her husband, José Negrín Armas, and that there were also other owners, including two brothers of her husband and other more distant members of the family, such as Miguel Ángel Armas Matallana. This architect, who is also accused in the case, was the one who agreed with Juan Francisco Rosa, who started the works without holding any type of ownership over that farm.
For his part, Armas Matallana acknowledged that he was only the owner of a part of the farm and assured that Rosa had promised to buy the rest of the land from the other owners. However, there is no record that any sale was signed and Juan Francisco Rosa maintained in his statement as accused that he had acquired them "by word of mouth." On the other hand, the widow of José Negrín has stated that they did not even contact her to inform her that they were going to start works on the farm. "I found out when the work was almost finished," she questioned.
It was then that she brought it to the attention of her children and they began to contact lawyers, at first without success, until they finally ended up appearing as a private prosecution in this case, denouncing the usurpation of their land. However, a little over a year ago, when the first Stratvs trial was about to be held, Rosa reached an agreement with them and finally paid them for those lands, thus getting them to withdraw from this case.
"My daughter never wanted to get married in his winery!"
"There were many years and great suffering. Constantly appearing in the press, which we didn't want at all," recalled the witness, who also referred to the "lies" that they have had to endure during this time. Among them, the one that Rosa launched when testifying in this trial, when he acknowledged that one of the heirs had gone to claim from him. "A lady or young lady came who wanted to have a wedding at Stratvs," said the businessman, who assured that he covered the expenses of that event and thus settled the debt for the part of the farm of which she was the owner.
"That is part of the huge lies that he has spread around. My daughter never wanted to get married in Lanzarote, much less in his winery!", the witness pointed out with indignation. "We have never set foot in his winery for anything. Not even out of curiosity," she then pointed out.
Regarding the agreements that Rosa could have reached with other brothers of her husband, she has indicated that she does not know. However, contrary to what was stated by the businessman - who maintained that he reached an agreement with Domingo Negrín, leaving him in exchange to exploit an adjacent farm that was his property - Olga Ramos has stated that it is not true that this plot had been cultivated, neither by Rosa nor by any member of her political family.
"He told us that he didn't have money to buy our part"
"He had the opportunity to solve things easily," lamented the witness, recalling the years and the "suffering" that they have had to go through to be able to collect for their part of the farm. "We just wanted to get rid of that property, which was already in his hands," she recalled when explaining the steps they took after learning about the work that Rosa had carried out on that farm.
"They had appropriated what was ours and my children contacted all the owners, but nobody did anything," she lamented, explaining that then they "spoke several times" with Miguel Ángel Armas Matallana, without him giving them a solution: "He said that we should solve it ourselves as we could."
It was then that they sent a formal requirement, and the one who answered then was Juan Francisco Rosa. "We wanted him to buy our part, which he had appropriated, but he told us that he didn't have money," explained the witness. "Did he tell you that he didn't have money?", the prosecutor stressed with surprise.
According to the witness, what the businessman offered them then was to enter the company, but they refused. So they went to the criminal route, appearing as injured parties in this case, until in December 2018, a decade after Stratvs was inaugurated, Rosa finally paid them for their part of the land.
Exchange of farms and alleged tax fraud
During the day this Wednesday, a cousin of Juan Francisco Rosa has also testified as a witness, in relation to another of the crimes that are being judged linked to the ownership of the land. And it is that, not holding the ownership of the land where the winery was actually built, they ended up registering it in another farm, making it appear that it was in a place where there was really no construction. Later, that farm where it was simulated that Stratvs was located was put as a guarantee before the Tax Agency, to cover a debt of more than 300,000 euros that the Princesa Yaiza company had with the Treasury.
The one who formally carried out the management was Rosa María Rosa, who at that time was president of the Board of Directors of Princesa Yaiza SA. In her statement as a witness, Rosa María Rosa has explained that they initially offered as a guarantee to the Tax Agency five farms that belonged to that company, but she has added that later there were "differences between the partners" and that finally one of them, Juan Francisco Rosa, offered that farm of his property, where Stratvs was supposedly located. "No idea", the witness has responded, when the prosecutor has asked her if she knew about the alterations that had been made in the registration of the winery.
What she has pointed out is that later the guarantee was changed again before the Tax Agency, putting the five farms that had been offered initially, and that later the debt was finally paid. About why that change was made again, she has limited herself to pointing out that because then it had been possible to reach "an agreement between the partners".
