The Provincial Court, through an order issued by Magistrate Carlos Vielba in response to an appeal by Ignacio Calatayud, has ruled that the competent Court for the investigation of the San Ginés Case is the Court of Instruction number 4 of Arrecife, whose holder is the controversial judge Ricardo Fiestras.
Vielba's thesis is based on considering that the complaints filed by the Water Consortium and Insular de Aguas de Lanzarote, S.A. (INALSA) refer to the events that Fiestras had already investigated previously, in a separate piece that originated as a result of the illegal seizure of the Montaña Roja desalination plant.
In that separate piece, which was born in early 2016, the hiring of Ignacio Calatayud by Pedro San Ginés through the Insular Water Council was investigated, an organization dependent on the Cabildo that has nothing to do with the Water Consortium or INALSA. However, Vielba argues in his order that the events judged are the same because, in the instruction of the separate piece, the Cabildo was requested to provide the existing contracts in favor of Ignacio Calatayud signed by the Cabildo itself or its dependent organizations.
According to legal sources consulted by La Voz, Vielba's argument is forced when considering that the complaints filed by the Water Consortium and INALSA refer, precisely, to the fact that Ignacio Calatayud appeared in the bankruptcy incidents without having been hired by both entities, without any more coverage than an alleged verbal agreement with San Ginés and one of the judicial interveners, also accused in this case. In any case, it is easily appreciable that Fiestras could not investigate in 2016 verbal contracts that the governing bodies of the affected entities were not aware of and of which there was no documentary trace.
A file under suspicion
Vielba's order has caused an unexpected turn by revealing that in February 2021 the Court ordered Judge Ricardo Fiestras to initiate abbreviated proceedings for the separate piece referring to the hiring of Ignacio Calatayud with the Insular Water Council, as a prior step to the holding of the oral trial. Fiestras ignored this order from the Court and, contrary to what was ordered by the aforementioned order, proceeded to file the procedure that now, after the decision of the Court, will have to be reopened.
Vielba's order makes a harsh assessment of Ricardo Fiestras' irregular conduct by pointing out that his decision to initiate the abbreviated procedure "was an order and not a recommendation." The seriousness of his action is reinforced by considering that Fiestras, in addition to acting against what was ordered by the Court, hid the referred order since it was not transferred to the Insular Water Council, nor to the Cabildo, nor to any of its dependent organizations which, following Vielba's thesis, would be part of the procedure.
The Public Prosecutor's Office reproaches Fiestras for his inactivity
The conduct of Judge Ricardo Fiestras in the separate piece of the hiring of Calatayud by the Insular Water Council has been the object of reproach by the Public Prosecutor's Office through two writings, dated November 2020 and January 2021. In them, the Prosecutor's Office reproaches Judge Fiestras for his inactivity during four years in which he did not even take a statement from the people investigated while delaying for more than two years the remission to the Provincial Court of several appeals.
Calatayud's claims dismissed
On the other hand, Ignacio Calatayud requested the annulment of the procedure for having been instructed by a non-competent judge violating his right of defense as a consequence of the secrecy of the proceedings, as well as for being a prospective investigation based on the mere whim of the judge. However, the order of the Provincial Court, beyond assigning the competence to instruct the San Ginés Case to the Court of Instruction No. 4, completely dismisses the requests of Ignacio Calatayud and recalls that it has been proven that Calatayud was hired without the protection of any agreement or resolution, being prohibited verbal hiring in public administrations.