Juan Francisco Rosa acknowledged this Thursday during the trial that he only owned 4% of the land where he built Stratvs - "I bought it in 1998 from a man from Las Palmas", he declared - and assured that he bought another percentage of the farm "by word of mouth" from the Negrín family. "By word of mouth? Had you paid?" the prosecutor asked him, who recalled that it was almost 20 years later when Rosa made the payment to the heirs of Domingo Negrín, who had denounced him for usurpation and until a year ago were involved in this case as a private prosecution.
In his first response, the businessman assured that in that "purchase by word of mouth" there was no payment but a kind of exchange. "In front of the winery I had another farm and Mr. Negrín and the brothers, not their children, exploited it," he said. However, as the prosecutor reminded him, last year he did end up paying the heirs, after reaching an agreement as this trial approached. "I have materialized the payment now, but I had already bought it," the accused insisted.
According to Rosa, the Negrín family owned 18% of that farm. As for the rest, he claimed that he also bought another 4% "in 2001 or 2002" and that the rest belonged to Miguel Ángel Armas Matallana and his wife, Piedad del Río, with whom he also did not sign a purchase agreement, although he claims that they had an agreement to do this project together. Armas Matallana, who was also the architect of the winery, is accused along with Rosa and the Prosecutor's Office is asking for 10 years in prison for him.
"We owned 100%", Rosa assured, who did not appear in any title deed until many years after having started the works. In addition, when the deed of this work was finally registered and his name was put on it, they stated that the winery was on a different property than the real one. And that other property was indeed his property, although it did not house any construction.
They registered the winery on another property "by mistake"
"I found out later that a mistake was made," Rosa declared in this regard, assuring that it was not he who went to the Registry, but an employee. "She made a mistake. I can't do anything," the businessman maintained, who at several moments during the interrogation took refuge in his workers, pointing out that they were the ones who did the paperwork. "We have 1,500 employees. I'm not going to be in charge of a cadastral file," "imagine that I'm not going to be dealing with that," he also pointed out with respect to the payment of some fees on the winery's permits.
Regarding that payment, he could not tell the prosecutor through which company it was paid, before which the president of the Chamber intervened with surprise. "Don't you remember which company? But how many companies do you have?" the magistrate asked him. "42, unfortunately," Rosa replied, who later used the same adjective to talk about the amount of loans he requests through those companies. "We are unfortunately asking for loans all day long," he stated.
"There was no intention to defraud"
Precisely for the request of one of those loans he is also accused in this case of an attempted fraud. The reason is that as a guarantee of payment he offered Stratvs, but what he really mortgaged was another property. Specifically, the property that was indeed his property and in which, according to Rosa, the winery was registered "by mistake".
"If I signed it, it was a mistake, but without intention, because there was no need," he assured. In addition to asking for a loan, the businessman also used that property where it had been simulated that Stratvs was located as a guarantee before the Tax Agency and to cover a debt of the Princesa Yaiza. "There was no intention to defraud. Everything is settled and paid. We admit the mistake, but BTL has no need to stop paying or doing. The loan was settled," he defended.
The change in the Cadastre, in 2013 and on a Saturday
Years later, when the investigation of this case had already begun, Juan Francisco Rosa took another step and also went to the Cadastre, to put the property where Stratvs was actually located in his name. At that time, the winery had been open for five years and a decade had passed since the works began and 15 years since the first permits were requested, but the land was still not in his name.
That's when the then head of the Yaiza Cadastre, Blas Noda, came on the scene, who is also accused in this case of a crime of falsifying a public document. Noda, who also testified this Thursday, has acknowledged that in 2013 he carried out that change of ownership and has blamed his lack of training for not taking into account the aspects that would have prevented him from carrying out that procedure. "I have BUP studies", he replied to his lawyer, after explaining that his position in the City Council was actually as controller of the Los Ajaches Natural Park, being in charge of monitoring the parking lots and the camping area and selling tickets at the entrance, and that he had been performing those functions for "barely a year".
In addition, as highlighted by the investigation, he has confirmed that it was on a Saturday when he made that change of ownership in the Cadastre. "I worked from Monday to Friday, but at that time there was a lot of work and to get it out I also went in the afternoons and some Saturdays," he said to justify it. Later, this same worker denied the Negrín family information about the change of ownership that he had processed, when they found out what had happened and went to claim their rights.
A free wedding as payment to another owner
Rosa, for his part, has insisted that he had an agreement with Domingo Negrín, now deceased, and has even referred to a photograph in which he appears at the inauguration of the winery. However, there is no deed of that purchase nor had a payment been made until a year ago, when he reached an agreement to get several heirs to withdraw as a private prosecution from this case. In addition, he has also acknowledged that he has had to face claims from other owners of the same family. "A lady or young lady came who wanted to have a wedding at Stratvs," he related, stating that he covered the expenses of that event and thus settled the debt for the part of the farm of which she was the owner.
As for the part of Miguel Ángel Armas Matallana and his wife, he has insisted that they started the project together. In fact, although Rosa has acknowledged that from the beginning he was the promoter of the work, the permits were requested in the name of Piedad del Río. "Miguel Ángel's idea was to participate with a percentage in the winery. It was going to be a humble winery, but then we thought of something superior and since 2003 he already had the intention of leaving," he stated.
However, he has pointed out that Armas Matallana was the author of the winery project, although there is no record of an order or that he paid him for it. "I think it was his contribution. The land and doing the project," Rosa pointed out. "When he started he was very excited, but when it became more expensive, he gave up. He told me: keep the winery and you will have to pay me for the land in the future," he assured the businessman. However, although Matallana did allow Rosa to put the winery and the farm in his name, they have not provided documents on the alleged sale. "I don't remember," the businessman replied when the prosecutor asked him if he didn't pay him for drafting the project either.
What he has assured is that in recent years he has bought other farms and that he currently has "65 hectares of vines and in La Geria 42 or 43". "They are farms that were abandoned and it was a shame to see. That's why I bought them quite cheap," he specified. According to him, also the farm where Stratvs is located today was "a garbage dump" until he started the construction of this illegal work.
