The former auditor of the Arrecife City Council, Carlos Sáenz, has added a new conviction for embezzlement and prevarication, which in turn is the first of the Montecarlo case, for the separate piece of Fuerteventura. The events investigated in that piece occurred in the La Oliva Consistory, where he was also an auditor. In addition, in the trial Sáenz confessed for the first time to the crimes for which he has now been convicted.
In fact, the sentence applies the mitigating circumstance of confession to him, which has led to a reduction in the sentence, finally imposing a year and six months in prison, compared to the six years initially requested by the Prosecutor's Office, which reduced its request after Saénz acknowledged the facts.
In addition, Carlos Sáenz must pay 442,489 euros to the La Oliva City Council to return the embezzled money. Another of those convicted, the businessman José Vicente Montesinos, who in turn has been sentenced to five years in prison and 9 years of disqualification for embezzlement, must jointly and severally answer for that sum. The third defendant and convicted in this piece is the one who was Councilor for Finance in the La Oliva City Council, Guillermo Morera Santana, who has been sentenced to seven years of disqualification for a crime of prevarication.
The auditor acknowledges that he proposed to Montesinos to create the company
The sentence, issued on December 18 by the Second Section of the Provincial Court, states that Carlos Sáenz himself admitted that in 2005, being an auditor of La Oliva, he offered José Vicente Montesinos to create a company to manage the taxes of that municipality, in which they were both partners. "Company that was not subjected to any control," the sentence states, adding that Carlos Sáenz also admitted that in exchange Montesinos "gave him various amounts of money and even that his wife made use of a Volvo brand vehicle that was acquired with funds from Tributos La Oliva and of which he only paid half of the amount."
As the Public Prosecutor maintained, the ruling considers it proven that through that company the defendants appropriated public funds, by keeping a good part of the money they collected from the taxes of the residents, since no one supervised the amounts that were later delivered to the Consistory. Even, the court affirms in its sentence that it is "convinced" that the embezzlement exceeded the 442,489 that have been able to be proven, although it points out that "the absence of any supporting documentation of the liquidations, together with the time elapsed", makes it "impossible" to carry out a calculation above that sum.
As for the Councilor for Finance, his participation in the events focused on the awarding of the tax collection service to Montesinos, which was also fraudulent and started from that proposal by Carlos Sáenz. Specifically, the defendants took advantage of the fact that the businessman who provided that service was going to retire to reach an agreement with him and keep the management without putting it out to tender.
The same model is being investigated in the San Bartolomé piece
The sentence details not only the payments that Montesinos made to Carlos Sáenz with funds from municipal taxes, but also the auditor's trips that he paid for, including a four-day stay at the Meliá Castilla hotel in Madrid, for which he paid more than 690 euros. "In addition, on those same dates they coincide in Madrid, and all of them with a stay paid for by Tributos La Oliva," adds the Court, which concludes that this "evidences not only the special relationship" they maintained, "but also that this entire process could not have been carried out except by virtue of the sum of will of all, perfectly aware of the plan drawn up and from which they have been obtaining economic benefit."
Precisely that relationship later extended to another Lanzarote City Council, that of San Bartolomé, where Carlos Sáenz was also an auditor and where Montesinos' services were contracted for the collection of taxes. These facts are what were investigated in another piece of the Montecarlo case, which was already ready to go to trial but whose celebration was delayed and remains pending. In it, in addition to Sáenz and Montesinos, the former Councilor for Finance for the PP, Javier Betancort, the former mayor of Coalición Canaria, Miguel Martín, and the treasurer, Luis Manuel Rodríguez, are accused.
In addition, there is a third piece in which the auditor, José Vicente Montesinos and Javier Betancort repeat as defendants, in this case focused on the Arrecife City Council. In that Consistory, Montesinos provided alleged services related to the preparation of specifications through Javier Betancort, whom he hired in one of his companies after the former councilor left the San Bartolomé City Council. In this case, as in the Fuerteventura piece, the investigation also proved the existence of trips paid for by Montesinos in which the defendants participated.
To these are added two other pieces of the Montecarlo case, also focused on Arrecife, although linked to other companies. In them, the name of Carlos Sáenz continues to be repeated as accused, in this case together with other politicians such as the former mayor, José Montelongo, and several former councilors of Finance.
