The businessman Luis Lleó, who has just been sentenced to one year and three months in prison for a corporate crime against his family, will be back in the dock next week. The trial, which is scheduled to start next Thursday, July 20, has already been suspended twice, so this is the third attempt to hold the oral hearing.
The events for which Lleó, who is also awaiting trial in the Unión case, will now have to answer are again related to his family businesses, since his brother and nephew accuse him of having "plundered" the company they shared. Both are appearing as private prosecutors in the case and are seeking 13 years in prison for Luis Lleó, a fine of 72,000 euros and compensation of 146,791 euros for crimes of misappropriation, fraudulent administration, falsification of corporate documents, attempted fraud and obstruction of the exercise of the rights of the partners.
For its part, the Prosecutor's Office is seeking 4 years in prison for Lleó, accusing him only of the alleged crime of disloyal administration, as well as the payment of compensation of 70,449 euros. Initially, this trial was due to be held last September, but was then suspended due to the non-appearance of several defense witnesses. Afterwards, a new date was set for last January, but the First Section of the Court agreed to postpone it to "extend the expert report", setting it for the next 20 and 21 July.
Diversion of money to his companies
Of the amount claimed by the Prosecutor's Office as compensation, some 44,000 euros correspond to the expenses generated by Lleó when he collected bills of exchange in the name of the company he shared with his brother and nephew in advance, through discount policies, and then handed the money over to other companies linked to him. The rest corresponds directly to diversions of funds from the family company to personal companies in his name. Specifically, according to the prosecutor, Luis Lleó transferred 18,000 euros to Residencial Playa Honda S.L. and 8,000 euros to Inversiones Tenderete S.L.
For their part, Lleó's brother and nephew raise that last figure to 102,000 euros. According to their indictment, between 2007 and 2008 the businessman and lawyer withdrew "unjustifiably and without authorization" that amount of money from several accounts of one of the companies, diverting those sums to other companies managed or "dominated" directly by him. They even claim that Lleó used "straw men" for this purpose, who appeared at the head of some of these companies.
According to the prosecution, "almost all the criminal acts were initiated by the defendant while the other partner, Aday Lleó Carranza, remained in the Hospital of Lanzarote as a result of having suffered a traffic accident". Thus, they consider that this circumstance was "taken advantage of" to "plunder the company without anyone being able to prevent it". Both Luis Lleó and his nephew were 50 percent partners in the companies Lleó Inmuebles SL and Consultores y Asesores Legales Lleó SL, while Jaime Lleó was the third administrator.
He charged the company almost one million euros for his services
His brother and nephew also accuse Luis Lleó of having "manipulated" the company's accounts, among other things, including a false invoice. With that invoice, Lleó himself claimed almost one million euros from the company for his alleged services as "a lawyer of a law firm, of which he was also administrator and partner", according to the prosecution.
At that time, his relatives had already begun to ask for explanations, without being given access to the documentation. Finally, in April 2015, a General Meeting of the company Consultores y Asesores Legales Lleó SL was held, in which Luis Lleó "excluded Aday Lleó Carranza and Jaime Lleo Khunel from the company and dismissed them from their positions as joint administrators, modified the management and administration regime, which became sole administration, and changed the registered office, which was in Arrecife, moving it to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria", appointing himself "as administrator". And he did all this after his brother and nephew left the meeting, after warning that the constitution of the Board was not valid because there was no secretary present.
For these facts they filed a complaint that led to other criminal proceedings, and that have ended up being judged before, giving rise to that first conviction to one year and three months in prison. That ruling, dictated by the Criminal Court Number 1 of Arrecife, argues that Lleó acted "with the evident intention of undermining the patrimonial interests" of his nephew. Thus, in addition to 15 months in prison, he imposes a penalty of special disqualification for the exercise of the position of director of a commercial company for the same time, as well as the payment of court costs.
Pending trial in Unión
In addition to this trial, Luis Lleó is still pending to sit in the dock within the Unión case. In that piece, the Prosecutor's Office's indictment, in which they are asking for 6 years in prison for attempted bribery, was filed more than three years ago. However, the trial has not yet been held, due to the cascade of appeals filed by the defendant.
Lleó even asked that the magistrate of the Provincial Court who had been appointed as president of the court that was going to try him be removed, alleging that he had resolved one of the appeals he filed with the Court during the investigation. Finally, it was agreed to appoint another judge and the chosen one was Salvador Alba.
Last February, the hearing was already held to raise the preliminary issues, which had to be resolved before the trial, since it will be held with a popular jury. The resolution of these preliminary issues arrived last April, with an order from Alba that was appealed by the Prosecutor's Office, so it is not yet final.
