The former secretary of the Arrecife City Council, Felipe Fernández Camero, has hired the lawyer of the former mayor of Yaiza, José Francisco Reyes, in the already judged Yate case, for his defense in the Unión case. On February 14, the lawyer Pablo Luna registered a document in Court Number 5 of Arrecife, instructor of the Unión case, notifying and accepting his appointment as Felipe Fernández Camero's lawyer.
Just one day later, on February 15, the same lawyer presented another document, in this case before the Second Section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas, reporting Reyes' confession in the Yate case and his willingness to deposit 300,000 euros before the trial. With that sum, which he effectively delivered shortly after, the former mayor has already responded to the fine that the Prosecutor's Office requested for him and his family, after reaching a conformity agreement. Added to the fine are the 6 years in prison that Reyes has accepted and the confiscation of several assets, including cars, the El Pachi boat and part of an apartment, acquired with money from bribes for granting illegal licenses to several hotels, the Playa Blanca Partial Plan and the Marina Rubicón marina.
Now, after having defended Reyes in this case for more than 7 years and after having presented his letter of conformity, Pablo Luna will now represent Fernández Camero in the Unión case. It so happens that when Luna assumed the defense of Reyes, he precisely replaced Felipe Fernández Camero, who was the former mayor's first lawyer in the Yate case. However, he later had to leave his defense, as he also became charged in that case.
Luna joined Reyes' defense after his arrest and his first confession in 2009, in which he did give the names of several businessmen who allegedly paid him bribes. However, he later retracted, coinciding with the incorporation of this new lawyer.
From alleged mastermind of the plot to accused of embezzlement
Initially, Camero was charged in the Yate case as the alleged mastermind of the plot for the massive granting of illegal licenses in Playa Blanca. Finally, as no evidence of his advice to Reyes was found, those charges against him were eventually dropped. However, precisely because no trace of his advice was found, a separate piece was then opened at the request of the Prosecutor's Office, for the money he received from the Yaiza City Council for that concept.
In that piece, which is already ready to go to trial, the prosecutor is asking for 6 years in prison for a continued crime of embezzlement of public funds and compensation of more than 970,000 euros, which the other two defendants, José Francisco Reyes himself and the former secretary of Yaiza, Vicente Bartolomé Fuentes, who also confessed in the Yate case, must jointly pay.
Added to this is the indictment of Felipe Fernández Camero in the Unión case, which is why he has hired Reyes' former lawyer. Camero is accused in the Urbaser piece and faces a request for 11 and a half years in prison by the Prosecutor's Office, as well as the payment of a fine and the confiscation of assets obtained with alleged bribes, such as a trip to Kenya for him and his partner, together with María Isabel Déniz and her husband.
The popular accusation, represented by Urban Transparency, and the private accusation, exercised by the Arrecife City Council as the injured party, are asking for higher penalties for Camero. The former is asking for 19 years in prison and 20 years of disqualification, while the City Council is demanding 16 years in prison and 20 years of disqualification.
From the Marbella plot to the Playa Blanca plot
The lawyer he has now hired for this case, who arrived on the island more than 7 years ago to defend Reyes, has intervened in well-known corruption cases throughout Spain. Among others, he was a defense lawyer in the Malaya case, the urban corruption plot of the Marbella City Council.
Pablo Luna Quesada directs a law firm in Granada, called "Luna y Asociados", made up of eight lawyers and a jurist. It is an office founded in 1978, "with high specialization in Criminal Law".
Initially, when he assumed the defense of Reyes in 2009, Luna declared to La Voz that he had assumed the case "provisionally". However, he has continued to be his lawyer until the trial, in which the former mayor finally confessed to the crimes that led him to the dock. The same has not happened with other subsequent cases in which José Francisco Reyes is charged, in which he even resorted to public defenders.
