Photos: Sergio Betancort
One of the main trials of the Unión case has finally started this Friday, after having been postponed twice in the last year. Despite last-minute attempts by several defendants, the hearing has already begun with 12 people in the dock, accused of crimes of bribery, embezzlement, fraud and illicit association, among others.
The first day will be entirely dedicated to resolving preliminary issues, including possible grounds for annulment invoked by the defendants, as they have already unsuccessfully done in other parts of the case that have already been judged and have final judgments. Afterwards, the trial will continue next week and will extend over a fortnight of sessions spread over two months.
This piece mainly judges events that occurred at the beginning of the 2007-2011 legislature in the Arrecife City Council, where the Prosecutor's Office maintains that the PIL used the Consistory, where it was governing at that time together with the PSOE, to embezzle public funds and collect bribes from various businessmen.
In addition to the 12 people sitting in the dock, there were two other people accused in the case who died before the trial arrived. One of them is former councilor José Miguel Rodríguez and the other was Dimas Martín's right-hand man, Matías Curbelo. In both cases, the two confessed to the crimes during the investigation. As for the rest of the defendants, there are both politicians and businessmen and officials and technicians of the City Council.
Politicians:
Dimas Martín, historical leader of the PIL: The Prosecutor's Office is asking for him 17 years and 6 months less one day of prison, a fine of 409,000 euros and disqualification of 24 years for crimes of illicit association, bribery, embezzlement, prevarication, falsification of commercial documents, fraud against the administration, privileged information and falsification of public documents.
Ubaldo Becerra, former Councilor for Urban Planning of Arrecife: 17 years in prison, a fine of 406,000 euros and disqualification of 26 years for crimes of illicit association, bribery, embezzlement, prevarication, falsification of commercial documents, fraud against the administration, privileged information and fraud against the administration.
Antonio Machín, former Councilor for Parks and Gardens: The Prosecutor's Office is asking for him 12 years and 6 months in prison, a fine of 300,000 euros and disqualification of 22 years for crimes of bribery, embezzlement of public funds of special gravity, prevarication, falsification of commercial documents, fraud against the administration and disclosure of privileged information.
Officials:
Elena Martín, Head of Contracting of Arrecife: The Prosecutor's Office is asking for him 2 years in prison and 20 years of disqualification for crimes of administrative prevarication and disclosure of privileged information with serious damage to the public cause and fraud against the administration.
Rafael Arrocha, Head of the Technical Office: The Prosecutor's Office is asking for him 4 years in prison and 11 years of disqualification for crimes of disclosure of privileged information and fraud against the administration.
Carlos Sáenz, Comptroller of Arrecife: The Prosecutor's Office is asking for him 7 years and 6 months in prison and 10 years of disqualification for a continued crime of embezzlement of public funds of special gravity, prevarication, falsification of commercial documents and fraud against the administration.
Businessmen:
Antonio Gómez Ruiz, administrator of Estudio de Arquitectura Paisajística La Palmita: The Prosecutor's Office is asking for him 12 months in prison, a fine of 20,000 euros and 3 years of disqualification for crimes of bribery, embezzlement, falsification of commercial documents and fraud against the administration.
Manuel Gregorio Reina Fabre, administrator of Construcciones y Reparaciones Reina: The Prosecutor's Office is asking for him 4 years and 4 months in prison, a fine of 12,000 euros and disqualification of 11 years for crimes of bribery, embezzlement, falsification of commercial documents, fraud against the administration and prevarication.
Jesús Manuel Martín Brito, administrator of Infogelan Construcciones: The Prosecutor's Office is asking for him 15 months in prison, a fine of 100,000 euros for crimes of bribery and disqualification of 3 years for crimes of embezzlement of special gravity in conjunction with falsification of commercial documents, with the crime of fraud against the administration and prevarication.
Samuel Lemes, administrator of Construcciones y Promociones Samyer: The Prosecutor's Office is asking for him 5 years in prison and disqualification of 6 years for crimes of embezzlement in conjunction with falsification of commercial documents, fraud against the administration, prevarication and fraud.
Antonio Cárdenas, engineer: The Prosecutor's Office is asking for him 2 years and 4 months in prison and disqualification of 4 years for crimes of taking advantage of privileged information with serious damage to the public cause and fraud against the administration.
Juan Francisco Rosa, real estate developer: The Prosecutor's Office is asking for him 2 years and 3 months in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros for a crime of continued falsification of a public document.
