Club Lanzarote, which filed the lawsuit that led to the criminal case for the seizure of the Montaña Roja desalination plant and which last September accused the president, Pedro San Ginés, of lying "blatantly" in that proceeding, has finally decided to withdraw as a private prosecutor. The decision comes after the agreement reached between the company and Pedro San Ginés, which means that Club will be able to continue selling and charging for water to the residents of Montaña Roja. The difference is that now the Water Consortium will be responsible for the sale, which will "cede" the management of the service to this company in exchange for a fee for a part of the water produced.
"I am not here to speculate or to believe", San Ginés declared last November, when this media outlet asked him if the agreement would mean that Club Lanzarote would also withdraw from the criminal case opened against him. At that time, the president insisted that the objective of that agreement, which he admitted he had personally negotiated, was only to put an end to the contentious lawsuits initiated by the company as a result of the seizure of its desalination plant, ordered by Pedro San Ginés and later annulled by the Courts.
However, a little more than a month after San Ginés offered that press conference to talk about the agreement with Club, the company has decided to also withdraw from the criminal case. To do this, it has already sent a letter to the Court of Instruction Number 2 of Arrecife, dated December 26, in which the prosecutor simply states that "following express instructions from the company", it "withdraws" from the procedure.
The case will continue with the Prosecutor's Office and Podemos as the prosecution
Unlike what happens with contentious lawsuits - in one of which the agreement has already been validated - in the criminal case only the personal responsibilities of those who intervened in the seizure are resolved, who are being investigated for crimes of malfeasance and coercion. Along with San Ginés, the secretary, Francisco Perdomo, the former manager of the Water Council, José Juan Hernández Duchemín, and the external lawyer Ignacio Calatayud, who while advising San Ginés on the seizure worked for Canal Gestión, which was the company to which the Club Lanzarote plants were handed over, are also charged.
The withdrawal of the company means that it will not formalize a written accusation as a damaged party nor will it be represented at the trial, beyond its declaration as a witness, but it does not affect the rest of the procedure. And it is that in addition to Club Lanzarote, the Prosecutor's Office is part of the case, which exercises the accusation of the Public Ministry, and the Podemos group in the Cabildo is also present as a private prosecution.
In the case of the Prosecutor's Office, it should be remembered that last October it stated that it sees "sufficient evidence" to bring the president to trial for a crime against the public administration and another of coercion. With that letter, the prosecutor asked that the appeal presented by San Ginés against the order that put an end to the investigation of the case and initiated the procedure to bring him to trial be rejected, opening the term to present the accusatory writings.
"Flagrant arbitrariness and injustice of his prevaricating resolution"
At the time, Club Lanzarote also asked that San Ginés' appeal be rejected, with a harsh letter in which it accused the president of having tried to "impose his will on the law", by illegally seizing his plants to hand them over to Canal Gestión. In addition, it maintained that he should go to trial to answer for the "flagrant arbitrariness and injustice of his prevaricating resolution".
When the company presented that letter, it had already reached an agreement with Pedro San Ginés, but the president had not managed to have it approved either in the Council or in the Water Consortium. Finally, the agreement personally negotiated by San Ginés was sent to the Courts without having been approved by any body, since not even in the Consortium, where CC holds the majority, did it receive the green light, and it was not even taken to the Council.
Pending the opening of oral trial for the seizure
In the order prior to the opening of the oral trial, the judge of Court Number 2 of Arrecife, Jerónimo Alonso, considered "evidentially accredited that the investigated, Pedro San Ginés Gutiérrez, in his capacity as president of the Island Water Council, carried out his personal will, departing from the law" when ordering that seizure. And that he did so without having "powers to do so", without that "disproportionate" measure being foreseen by any regulations, "without a situation of urgency that justified it" and "without granting a prior hearing procedure" to the company that owns the plant, Club Lanzarote, "violating its right of defense".
In addition, he added that San Ginés used reports prepared "ad hoc", both by the then manager of the Water Council, José Juan Hernández Duchemín, and by the external lawyer Ignacio Calatayud, who prepared an opinion after the seizure "to provide" the president's action with "an appearance of legality" and to "try to give, in some way, some legal coverage to the prevaricating resolution". Regarding this lawyer, who "had a main role" in the entire procedure, the order recalled that he was advising the president and Canal Gestión at the same time, which was the company to which the seized plants were handed over, obtaining thanks to this "the consequent economic benefit". And that company that benefited from the measure paid Calatayud 3,300 euros per month plus IGIC, while he was acting as advisor to the president in the seizure.
The hiring of Calatayud also gave rise to a separate piece of that case, which is currently being investigated in Court of Instruction Number 4 of Arrecife. In the order ordering the separation of this piece, the magistrate pointed out that in it, "logically", Calatayud himself and the president of the Cabildo and the Island Water Council, Pedro San Ginés, would be "investigated".
In addition, recently the president has added a new charge, after being called to testify as an investigated party in the new proceedings opened as a separate piece of the case for the bankruptcy of Inalsa. In that procedure, the awarding of works through the Water Council "avoiding" the legal rules of public procurement is being investigated. Of the three awards that are being investigated, two were carried out under the Presidency of San Ginés and the sum that was paid amounted to 2.7 million euros.