The businessmen Juan Francisco Rosa, Rafael Lasso and José Cecilio Salces have not yet accepted the agreement offered by the Prosecutor's Office to avoid trial for a crime against the Public Treasury. Thus, the procedure for an alleged fraud of 1.5 million euros to the Tax Agency continues its course and the hearing has already been set for next May 2. Until that day, the accused can still accept the agreement, which would mean a reduction in the penalties requested for them, and could even avoid imprisonment if the prison sentence does not exceed two years.
To accept this agreement, which was offered before last summer, the businessmen would have to confess the crime and, above all, face the payment of civil liability, since the priority set in these cases by the Economic Crimes Prosecutor's Office is the recovery of the money defrauded from public funds. However, although the defenses of the three accused have initially been "quite receptive", so far they have not responded.
In the event that they do not pay the sum claimed by the Public Prosecutor's Office and confess to the crime, Rosa, Lasso and Salces will be in the dock with a request for 5 years in prison, which is what was requested in the initial indictment. In addition, the prosecutor requested in that writing a fine of 7 million euros for each one, as well as another of 3 million for the company in which they were partners, Management Los Clicos S.L, and the return of the 1.5 million allegedly defrauded from the Treasury.
From 1 to 6 years in prison
Regarding the agreement offered by the Prosecutor's Office, the details have not been revealed for the moment, pending whether all or some of the accused accept it. In any case, the possibilities of reducing the penalties are marked by the Penal Code, which contemplates penalties of between 1 and 6 years in prison for this crime when the amount defrauded exceeds 600,000 euros, as is the case. Regarding the fine, the penalty can range from the same amount of the amount defrauded, that is, 1.5 million, to 6 times its value.
The investigation of this case was closed at the end of 2016 in the Court of Instruction Number 2 of Arrecife and in April the opening of oral trial was ordered. When adopting this decision, Judge Jerónimo Alonso also ordered precautionary measures, requiring the accused to deposit almost 40 million euros as a bond, "to ensure the economic responsibilities" to which they could be sentenced. However, the businessmen have not responded to that sum.
Last October, the hearing of conformity prior to the trial was already held, which ended without agreement. Thus, if there are no changes, the trial will continue and is scheduled for next Wednesday, May 2, before the Criminal Court Number 1 of Arrecife. It so happened that on that same day the start of the trial of one of the main pieces of the Unión case was scheduled, which will also put Juan Francisco Rosa in the dock, but it has finally been delayed until September at the request of the defenses of three defendants, including that of Rosa himself.
"Clear intention to defraud"
The events for which the three businessmen are accused in this case occurred in 2010, when through the company in which they were partners, Management Los Clicos S.L., they sold the hotel La Geria, located in Puerto del Carmen. According to the indictment of the Prosecutor's Office, the sale was made "for a total price of 13,871,000 euros", but "with clear intention to defraud" the Public Treasury, "deliberately omitted to make the corresponding declaration regarding the Corporate Tax" of that year, thus avoiding a millionaire payment.
Two years later, when the Treasury detected the alleged fraud, the accused made "a supplementary declaration" of the year 2010, recognizing the sale and calculating the profit at 6,755,663 euros. However, they did not pay the corresponding taxes then either. To avoid this, they allocated 5,140,000 euros to the Reserve for Investments in the Canary Islands (RIC) from that profit, despite being "aware of its impropriety", according to prosecutor Tomás Fernández de Paiz.
The main reason, according to the Prosecutor's Office, is that this money "did not come from any economic activity", as required by the law that regulates the RIC, so they could not benefit from this figure. It was then that the Tax Agency filed a complaint against the three businessmen, thus giving rise to this case, in which this body is present as a private prosecution. In the case of the Tax Agency, in its indictment it asks for 4 years in prison and a fine of 4.6 million euros each of the accused, as well as the return of the 1.5 million euros allegedly defrauded, "plus default interest".
