Calatayud also has his accounts blocked by court order and six agents with dogs searched his house and office

He tried to recuse the judge who is investigating him along with San Ginés, questioning that he authorized measures requested by the UCO. He also alleged that the judge considers him "Lanzarote's public enemy number one" and that he thinks he was the one who put a detective on him.

May 26 2022 (22:23 WEST)
Updated in May 26 2022 (22:45 WEST)
The lawyer Ignacio Calatayud
The lawyer Ignacio Calatayud

“Six civil guards with dogs trained to search for money” searched the home and office of lawyer Ignacio Calatayud in Madrid, the same day that the UCO also entered the home of Pedro San Ginés. This was highlighted by Calatayud himself in the recusal he filed against the judge who is instructing the macro-case opened against San Ginés and against him for several corruption crimes, and which has already been forcefully rejected by the Sixth Section of the Provincial Court.

Ignacio Calatayud also complained that “his accounts and bank funds” have been blocked, like those of Pedro San Ginés - which is a measure that is adopted in investigations of serious economic crimes - and even questioned that in the registry “the computers where his clients' files are located have been stolen”.

“We understand the discomfort of the recuser who was the object of a diligence of such nature, but the basis of the recusal is non-existent,” the Provincial Court responded this week, which has described the recusal as unfounded, pointing out that what Ignacio Calatayud intended was “to remove the natural judge predetermined by law from the procedure”.

Furthermore, he not only questions the lack of motivation and the “unfounded” nature of that recusal, but also the terms used by the lawyer. “The use of the term subtraction is out of place and, being benevolent, we qualify it as unfortunate”, the order warns.

In this regard, it also emphasizes that it was the Central Operations Unit of the Civil Guard “that requested the practice of such diligence, which the judge is obliged to assess and, where appropriate, authorize with reasons”.

"Lanzarote's public enemy number one"

In his writing, Calatayud tried to question the “impartiality” of the head of the Court of Instruction Number 2 of Arrecife, Jerónimo Alonso, pointing out that they had a friendship “years ago”, but that “it has been evolving towards an open and manifest animosity”.

In fact, in his writing he maintained that the magistrate “has been stating” that Calatayud is “Lanzarote's public enemy number one” and “other similar phrases”. According to the Court, these are “gratuitous” and “lacking the slightest evidentiary support” statements.

Furthermore, he stated that “he has had news” that the magistrate attributes to him having hired the detective who was following him a few years ago. At that time, Jerónimo Alonso was instructing, among others, the case for the seizure of the Montaña Roja desalination plant, in which Calatayud was also charged. In addition, he opened a separate piece for the payments that the lawyer received in relation to that advice to Pedro San Ginés, to order the seizure and deliver the plants to Canal Gestión, which in turn had also hired Calatayud.

The detective even took photographs of the magistrate in his private life, which were later used by a controversial association of jurists who for years tried to interfere in corruption cases opened in Lanzarote, including that separate piece for the desalination plant case.

Now, after initiating the investigation of this new macro-case, the General Council of the Judiciary agreed to request escorts for magistrate Jerónimo Alonso, who reported having received threats from the environment of those investigated.

"He seems to consider that it gives him a kind of immunity"

In his recusal writing, Calatayud also questioned having been charged in the desalination plant case, stating that the magistrate “strove in artificial arguments aimed at sustaining his incrimination at all costs”, which it should be remembered was also supported by the Public Prosecutor's Office.

In fact, when Calatayud appealed the order that put an end to the instruction - concluding that there were indications of a crime both on him and on the other three people who are finally being judged in that case - the prosecutor asked that it be dismissed and that his indictment be maintained.

However, an order issued by Judge Salvador Alba, today removed from office for a conviction of judicial corruption, upheld his appeal and dismissed the proceedings with respect to him.

Alba was then part of the Sixth Section of the Court, along with two other magistrates who make it up today, and who are the ones who have rejected his recusal writing.

The fact that one or several cases against a certain person have been dismissed does not prevent others from being initiated for different facts. And it is that the recuser seems to consider that the dismissal agreed with respect to him by the Provincial Court gives him a kind of immunity that determines that any other procedure followed against him can only be moved by the spite of who instructs it”, the Court points out, reproducing the response of the Public Prosecutor's Office to that recusal against Jerónimo Alonso.

A previous investigation for embezzlement

Finally, Calatayud also questioned that when Jerónimo Alonso separated a piece for embezzlement of public funds in the desalination plant case, and it fell to another Court, “he repeatedly inquired about the new proceedings, intending to advise the new magistrate about them”.

In this case, he also did not specify how he had access to that information, and the Court responds that “if he considers that he acted, knowingly, without objective competence, he must go to the duty Court, not to the institute of recusal”.

That piece opened for alleged embezzlement was stopped for years in the Court of Instruction Number 4 of Arrecife, until the Court annulled the last extension of the instruction - because it was being delayed in time without progress and without even defining who the investigated were - and the case was finally filed, without some of the proceedings requested by the Public Prosecutor's Office being carried out.

Now, Calatayud faces this new procedure, opened as a result of a complaint for the million euros he received for his participation as a lawyer in the Inalsa bankruptcy procedure, under the mandate of San Ginés. However, the investigation continues under summary secrecy and could have other ramifications.

In fact, Pedro San Ginés himself revealed that, among other things, how he acquired his home, which belonged to Calatayud's father-in-law, also lawyer Felipe Fernández Camero, is being investigated. San Ginés lived for years in that house as president of the Cabildo, supposedly paying rent, and then he claims that he ended up buying it, although he did not want to specify the date. It does not appear in his name in the Property Registry and it is also not included in the last declaration of assets that he presented as a councilor of the Cabildo.

Pedro San Ginés with the UCO agents. La Voz
The Judiciary requests bodyguards for the judge investigating Pedro San Ginés, after receiving threats
The UCO carries out a search at the home of the former president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés (CC)
This is how the search was carried out at San Ginés' house, who refused to testify before the UCO agents
Pedro San Ginés during the press conference
The UCO investigates a possible crime of bribery in the purchase of the house of San Ginés to Felipe Fernández Camero
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