José Francisco Reyes “took advantage of the position of power he held in the urban planning area of the town of Yaiza, which he exercised without caring about anything other than his own benefit, making his public office a way to do business, enriching himself through many of the licenses he granted by collecting money from some developers with urban interests in Yaiza for his personal profit.” This is what the Second Section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas considers proven in the Yate case ruling, which is already final for the 9 convicted, having shown their agreement with the Prosecutor's accusation.
Although those developers who gave him sums of money in cash have not been identified -only bribes in the form of gifts or presents are detailed-, the ruling considers it proven that the former mayor of Yaiza also received “significant amounts” in cash, both for the granting of illegal hotel licenses and “for mere omissions”, such as “not sanctioning illegal works or not restoring the altered urban legality, in order to profit economically”.
In this way, as prosecutors Javier Ródenas and Ignacio Stampa pointed out in their indictment, and the ruling considers proven, “the mayor allowed the birth of ‘developer urbanism’ and with his manifestly illegal action he caused a total alteration of the urban reality of the municipality of Yaiza, since he authorized hotel constructions and buildings without any legal basis other than his whim”. In this regard, the ruling points out that neither the mandatory and binding legal reports were incorporated, “nor were arguments or reasons externalized that could justify the massive granting of licenses for projects that in some cases were not even endorsed by the professional association of architects”.
Licenses granted “in the record time of 3 days”
Among the licenses that the former mayor granted “knowing of their manifest and flagrant illegality, both from the point of view of urban planning regulations, and of the basic rules that regulate administrative procedures”, are included those of twenty hotels and apartment complexes, as well as the authorization of the urbanization project of the Playa Blanca Partial Plan and the license of the Marina Rubicón marina.
“The accused had at his disposal the municipal will in order to the resolutions that could be adopted in the urban area, requesting economic amounts, under the pretext of speeding up the procedures in the granting of urban licenses, reaching to amass a significant fortune, at the expense of the general interest of the municipality, which he never attended to due to his search for personal and immediate profit that guided his actions as mayor”, adds the ruling in the section of proven facts.
In some of the cases, the licenses were granted “in a record time of only three days”, and “knowing of the illegality”, as Reyes himself admitted during the trial. “He even authorized the construction of more than 1,500 tourist places on the same day (Monday, June 1, 1998), when the projects for the construction of 7 hotels were presented to him on May 29”, adds the ruling, emphasizing that of those three days, two were weekend days.
“The mayor, aware that ‘nobody gives anything for nothing’ –as Reyes himself pointed out in his first confession in this case in 2009, which he later retracted- configured to his mercenary will, since he was only moved by the money to be entered and never the general interest, the new urban parameters of the land and its maximum building capacity”, adds the Court, following the account made in its day by the Public Prosecutor's Office and admitted by nine of the accused.
“Prevented the exercise by the Cabildo of its powers”
The ruling also refers to the role of the Cabildo and the breaches of the Island Plan in the granting of these illegal licenses. “They openly contradicted the binding determinations of the PIOT, as well as exceeding the building capacity of the municipality to which it was obliged to serve”, the Court points out.
In addition, it adds that José Francisco Reyes “deliberately omitted essential procedures in the granting procedure, preventing the exercise by the Cabildo of its powers, since he granted the licenses without the intervention of this Institution, to which he never requested the mandatory compatibility report that must be requested prior to the granting of any license”. Precisely for this reason, the Island Corporation, under different presidencies, appealed in its day the licenses that Reyes was granting, having won all the lawsuits filed.
Finally, the then Minister of Territorial Policy, Carlos Espino, decided to take the matter to the criminal route, presenting a complaint with a detailed report on the set of illegal licenses granted. This is how the Yate case began, which has now come to an end with the issuance of this ruling and the conviction of nine defendants who, in addition, confessed the facts during the trial.
