Section Six of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas will try next Tuesday in Arrecife five defendants accused of fraud in the sale of vehicles, appliances and furniture in Lanzarote. In the case, a sixth defendant is still to be summoned, whose address is unknown and who was not found by the Judicial Police before the hearing.
According to the accusation of the Public Prosecutor, the events date back to the period between April and September 2011, when the accused I.R.M., with a criminal record for an offense against road safety, allegedly committed a fraud to buy and sell vehicles, appliances and furniture, impersonating third parties or with the help of others to enrich himself.
The Public Prosecutor's Office states that I.R.M. allegedly used falsified documentation or people from his environment, who cooperated with him, to carry out these purchases. With this modus operandi, he requested various loans from different banks, knowing that he was not going to pay the money. After that, he is accused of selling these goods to third parties, who paid him in cash, without informing them that there was a loan on those products.
Eight cars and four motorcycles
The public prosecution points out that I.R.M. acquired by these methods a total of eight vehicles and four motorcycles, an armchair valued at 4,000 euros, a television and kitchenware.
Among the cases presented by the public prosecution, the purchase of a Volkswagen Golf at the Lanzawagen dealership in Arrecife for 18,370 euros is included. In this case, N.A.P., who is wanted by the justice system, but has not been located, signed the documents for the purchase of the vehicle and the financing contract for the car with Banco Santander.
In total, she asked for 27,014.40 euros. To get that loan, this person allegedly falsified her registration certificate and her pay slips. At this point, the Public Prosecutor's Office highlights the work of the representative of the company Mundo Latino, J.A.R.V, whom he accuses of providing the falsified pay slips so that N.A.P. and I.R.M. could present them as collateral for the purchase of the vehicle.
I.R.M. and N.A.P. sold the car to a third person in June 2011 for 12,000 euros in cash and without paying the bank the 26,370.4 euros that were still pending from the loan. They also did not inform the buyer that there was a loan on that car.
The same thing happened with other vehicles acquired in other dealerships. For example, a Fiat 500, which they bought in Came Canarias SL for 13,325.98 euros and which was also bought in the name of N.A.P., under the alleged orders of the main defendant I.R.M.
The Public Prosecutor's Office highlights the work of an employee in the San Bartolomé dealership in this alleged scheme. Thus, he accuses J.L.R.R. of managing the sale and negotiation of the loan and of processing the documentation "knowing of its falsity and that the vehicle would not be paid to the financial institution".
This Fiat 500 was then sold to a second-hand dealership for 8,000 euros in cash and without warning, as with the Volkswagen, that there was a loan and a debt on the vehicle.
On another occasion, he also acquired another Fiat 500 in this same dealership but in the name of another person. The public prosecution maintains that these transactions were made with the support of the vehicle store worker J.L.R.R. and the head of Mundo Latino, J.A.R.V, whom he accuses of falsifying the pay slips. This second Fiat was sold to another individual in cash and the financial debt was no longer paid.
This method also led him to acquire a Honda Civil for 17,400 euros, which he then sold to another second-hand vehicle dealership for 12,000 euros in cash. For this, N.A.P. requested the loan again in her name.
A BMW and a Yamaha
He used this same method to acquire a BMW F800 motorcycle for 9,592 euros at the Vemotor Canarias SL dealership. In this case, the loan document was allegedly signed by N.A.P. and the motorcycle was then sold by I.R.M. and N.A.P to a second-hand store.
On other occasions, I.R.M. allegedly impersonated another person to acquire a Yamaha motorcycle at UR Motos Lanzarote in Tías for 9,324 euros. For this, he was again endorsed with "false pay slips" issued by the company Mundo Latino.
The Public Prosecutor attributes to the representative of UR Motos, U.M.D. having received 200 euros for carrying out the sale operation and 9,000 euros from the money provided by the financial institution. All this, according to the Prosecutor's Office, "knowing that the amount of the loan was not going to be paid by the buyer to the financial institution". In this case, the defendant I.R.M. did not receive the motorcycle.
Scams worth 342,055 euros
In total, the Prosecutor's Office attributes to the main defendant I.R.M. having defrauded 178,597.43 euros to different financial institutions.
In this line, he points out that the former employee of the San Bartolomé dealership defrauded 71,453.58 euros; while the representative of a motorcycle dealership, UR Motos Lanzarote, would have defrauded 29,702 euros to the financial institutions.
To one of the defendants M.M.D. who signed the loans for two vehicles and one of the motorcycles, the figure amounts to 46,801 euros. To this is added J.A.R.V. whom the Prosecutor's Office accuses of delivering the pay slips that served as collateral to request the loans and whose defrauded money amounts to 15,502 euros.
The Public Prosecutor's Office also accuses I.R.M. of threatening the defendant U.M.D. after he testified in court. According to what he stated, he sent him a text message "with the intention of intimidating him so that he would not betray him" in the course of the case.
Requested prison sentences
The Public Prosecutor's Office attributes to the head of the scheme I.R.M. the continued crime of falsification of a commercial document, with a continued crime of qualified fraud for which he requests five years and six months of prison; as well as a fine of six months with a daily fee of 20 euros for the crime against road safety for driving without the circulation permits; as well as two years and six months of prison for the crime against the administration of Justice, for threatening a prisoner. In addition to the payment of costs.
Meanwhile, he asks that the defendant J.L.R.R. be sentenced to four years and three months of prison, special disqualification for passive suffrage during the time of the sentence and a fine of eleven months at 15 euros for a continued crime of falsification of a commercial document, with a continued crime of qualified fraud.
For M.M.D. he asks for two years and eleven months of prison for the continued crime of falsification of a commercial document with one of fraud and a fine of ten months with a daily fee of eight euros for each one.
For the defendants J.A.R.V. and U.M.D., he requests two years and three months of prison for the continued crimes of falsification of a commercial document with one of fraud and a fine of ten months with a daily fee of eight euros for each one.
In addition, the payment of subsidiary civil liability to the different banking entities allegedly defrauded is added. Among them, Santander Consumer, La Caixa, Fracciona Finanmadrid, Sabadell Fincom and F.G.A. Capital Spain.
Meanwhile, for the defendant M.R.C. the prosecutor asks for the provisional dismissal of the proceedings as he understands that there are not enough indications for his prosecution.
