The former mayor of Yaiza, José Francisco Reyes, has not only admitted to receiving hundreds of thousands of euros in cash in exchange for granting illegal licenses, but has also confessed that he benefited from other 'gifts' for his "criminal urban planning action". "I expressly acknowledge the acceptance of gifts as a reward for acts constituting a crime committed in the exercise of my office," he states in the letter of conformity that he has sent to the Second Section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas.
And among those "gifts", he includes the one he received from the owners of the Marina Rubicón marina. In his letter, Reyes states that he "expressly acknowledges" the "facts related in point IV of the indictment" of the Public Prosecutor's Office, and in particular those referring to this port. In that section, the Prosecutor's Office maintains that the former mayor received a "gift" worth about 60,000 euros, by not paying for the berth of the boat El Pachi for years.
In addition, in that point IV that has been admitted by the former mayor, the prosecutor pointed out that "said gift is due to the granting of several urban licenses" to the "administrators of the entity Puerto Deportivo Rubicón S.A.", that is, Juan Francisco Rosa, Rafael Lasso and Francisco Armas. One of those licenses is that of the port itself - which the Prosecutor's Office asks to be annulled in this trial, because it was granted in "frontal collision with the urban planning regulations of application"-, and the others correspond to three illegal hotels and were already annulled by a final judgment of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands.
He illegally authorized the port and three hotels of its owners
Two of those hotels, the Princesa Yaiza and the Son Bou, belong to Juan Francisco Rosa. In the case of Princesa Yaiza, Reyes granted the license in just three days and with a municipal report against it. To these two licenses, the Prosecutor's Office adds the one that the former mayor granted to another of the owners of Marina Rubicón, Francisco Armas, for the Meliá Volcán hotel, whose license was also annulled by the Courts.
According to the Public Prosecutor's Office and Reyes now acknowledges, the free berth he enjoyed for years corresponds to a "gift" for the granting of all those illegal licenses to the administrators of the port. In fact, among other crimes, Reyes himself acknowledges a continuous one against land planning.
In the letter he sent to the Provincial Court, the former mayor admits that he granted all the illegal licenses to which the Public Prosecutor's Office refers, being "fully aware of the nonconformity with the urban planning that was applicable, as well as the lack of legal and technical reports that would cover such an arbitrary municipal decision".
They requested a license when the port was almost finished
Regarding the port, the license was granted less than a week after it was requested, and when the works were practically finished. In fact, the permit was only requested when the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands suspended the works. According to the Prosecutor's Office, the "gift" that Reyes received from the administrators of the port "also rewarded the voluntary inactivity of the mayor in the exercise of his powers in matters of urban planning discipline", since he did not act while they were carrying out those works without any type of permit.
During the investigation of this case, Rosa, Lasso and Armas were charged, although the charges against them were finally dropped. Among other things, the reason was that this gift was given after having obtained the licenses, and not before, which is decisive for the crime of bribery to exist. And it is that when the "reward" is given 'a posteriori', the Penal Code that was then in force punished the authority or public official who receives it, but not who gives it, according to what they pointed out when dismissing the charges against them.
As for the hundreds of thousands of euros in cash that José Francisco Reyes received, it has not been possible to determine exactly who made those deliveries of money to him. In his first confession, after his arrest in 2009, Reyes did give several names of businessmen, although he later retracted. Now, he has admitted his crimes, but has not given names of businessmen. He has only confirmed those linked to this and other gifts, but has not said who gave him the amounts in cash.
A company without activity to "boost the port"
When they testified as defendants in the courts, the owners of Marina Rubicón even stated that they did not know that Reyes' boat, which was in his son's name, was docking in their port. For his part, the manager and son of Rafael Lasso alleged that they did not charge him for the berth because the boat offered a tourist service, transporting passengers, which served to "boost the port". However, as reflected in the investigation, the truth is that the company that operated El Pachi only invoiced 396 euros in 4 years for that service. In addition, it is recorded that between the summer of 2004 and the summer of 2006 the activity was "null and totally nonexistent", despite which he continued without paying for the berth.
It was after Reyes' arrest, already in 2010, when the company began to claim expenses for this concept. At that time, the boat was sealed by court order and from Marina Rubicón they claimed that "it damaged their image". In addition, it claimed 8,353 euros only for the last 12 months of berthing and expenses generated by the boat. Until then, El Pachi had spent years without paying for the berth and in that time he only paid an alleged fee for passenger movement, which in total did not even cover the corresponding to the berth of a single month.
Other gifts for licenses and works contracts
In addition to this gift from the owners of Marina Rubicón, Reyes acknowledges in his letter two others, which are those indicated by the Public Prosecutor's Office. One of them was received from the company Construcciones Isla de Lobos SL, which between 1996 and 1998 was awarded multiple works in the municipality of Yaiza. In total, in that period the company invoiced the City Council almost 476,000 euros, for works on the dance floor in Las Breñas, a sports court, the expansion of the municipal cemetery, the funeral home and the football field, among others.
Meanwhile, this same company carried out works in the private home of José Francisco Reyes and his wife, for an amount of more than 60,000 euros, which "were never paid by the accused nor claimed by the company". This, according to the Public Prosecutor's Office and Reyes now acknowledges, responded to a "gift", in exchange for the award of all those municipal works in 2 years. In one of the cases, the work of the Yaiza funeral home, the City Council also paid 7,704 euros above the price for which it had been awarded, "without any justification or document to support the payment of said difference".
The other gift recognized by Reyes comes from the company of another of the accused in the case, José Rafael Mesa Ferrer. In this case, through the company Gestión y Desarrollo Janubio SA, Mesa Ferrer ceded a home to one of Reyes' daughters, who lived there at least between August 2005 and September 2009 "without paying any rent". "Said gift is due to the granting of several licenses in his capacity as mayor", the Prosecutor's Office pointed out, which listed the permits granted by Reyes to this company. Among them is the license for the execution of 190 bungalows in Montaña Roja, as well as the license for the construction of the Dream Gran Castillo hotel, also declared illegal by the courts.
As in the case of the owners of Marina Rubicón, in this case the businessman is not finally accused of bribery either, since the gift was granted after the granting of the permits. However, José Rafael Mesa Ferrer is accused of his role as tax advisor to José Francisco Reyes, for having helped him to hide and launder the assets obtained through the bribes he received for the massive granting of illegal licenses.
