The businessman Juan Francisco Rosa has just bought part of the land where he built the Stratvs winery, thus acknowledging that he occupied land that did not belong to him. In this way, Rosa has managed to get the Negrín family to withdraw from the criminal case opened for the construction of this winery, which is still awaiting trial and in which, among other things, he is accused of a crime of usurpation.
The out-of-court agreement was signed at the end of December and on the 28th of that month the Negrín's lawyer sent a letter to the Sixth Section of the Provincial Court communicating that they were withdrawing from the case. "This private prosecution waives the right to continue exercising the criminal and civil actions that corresponded to it in this procedure, withdrawing from it," the letter states.
In total, three families were claiming against Rosa for the occupation of land, although only one went to criminal proceedings. The others, with whom the businessman has also reached an agreement, had initiated civil proceedings, which will now be filed. As for the criminal case, it will continue its course with the prosecution of the Prosecutor's Office and the popular prosecution represented by Urban Transparency, which respectively demand 15 and 21 years in prison for Rosa in the main part of the case, which is still awaiting trial.
In addition to a crime of usurpation, this part will judge crimes against the environment, against land planning, against historical heritage, of document forgery, fraud and influence peddling, among others. Regarding the other part that has already been judged, it focused only on the events after the construction of the winery, when it received the opening license under the Mayoralty of Gladys Acuña. The Negrín family was present at that trial and has now also withdrawn, when it is in the process of resolving appeals against the first instance ruling.
They claimed almost 400,000 euros
The out-of-court agreement was signed before a notary by the company that owns Stratvs, BTL Lanzarote, although the economic terms have not been disclosed. What sources close to the family have confirmed to La Voz is that they have managed to get Rosa to recognize everything they claimed regarding the amount of land occupied and to pay for it. In their statement of accusation, which they have now withdrawn, they requested a total of 389,673 euros, in addition to the costs generated with this lawsuit, which they have now also waived.
In addition, this amount must be added to what the other heirs of that land claimed, who had gone to civil court. In total, the businessman has now had to buy more than 16 percent of the land where he built Stratvs. The first agreement was closed about two months ago, with the heirs of Domingo Negrín who had gone to civil court, and last December he signed another with the part of the family that had gone to criminal court.
Repeats the pattern he used to avoid complaints against Marina Rubicón
This is not the first time that Juan Francisco Rosa has reached an out-of-court agreement to get an individual to withdraw his accusation against him, as it also happened during the construction of the illegal Marina Rubicón marina. In March 2002, the company Consulting Turístico Canaria S.A., owned by the businessman from Gran Canaria, Juan Padrón, who was building a shopping center on the adjacent plot, addressed the Yaiza City Council requesting the suspension of the works, since they lacked a municipal license. In addition, he denounced that there were irregularities in the concession he received from the Government of the Canary Islands and questioned that this land was not suitable for commercial use and that it did not comply with environmental conditions. He also emphasized that he was forced to set back the building he had planned to comply with the easement of coastal protection and, however, Marina Rubicón was allowed to install a commercial area in front of his plot, and therefore attached to the sea.
Given the lack of response from the Consistory, Padrón went to court filing a contentious appeal and the Court suspended the works. However, the owners of Marina Rubicón breached that order and Juan Padrón filed a complaint, this time criminal, for a crime of disobedience against Rafael Lasso, owner of the port together with Rosa and Francisco Armas.
In March 2003, two and a half years after having started the works, Lasso requested a license from the City Council and obtained it in just six days (both the then mayor, José Francisco Reyes, and the secretary, Vicente Bartolomé Fuentes, were later convicted in the Yate case for granting that permit knowing that it was illegal and Reyes even confessed that he granted it in exchange for a bribe). After obtaining that license, the promoters of the port requested that the case be dismissed, alleging that it no longer made sense because they had obtained a license, but that permit was challenged by Juan Padrón, who again denounced that the works were continuing and accused the City Council of "connivance" with the offenders.
The Court then issued a new order maintaining the precautionary measure of halting the works and warning that the case would continue its course, but a month later Juan Francisco Rosa and Jesús Escribano, on behalf of Marina Rubicón, signed a contract with Juan Padrón for which they paid him 1.8 million euros. In return, Padrón undertook to withdraw from the five contentious lawsuits that had been opened, to also abandon the criminal lawsuit, to present writings in all the administrations in which he challenged any act relating to Marina Rubicón and to withdraw from it and not to present any other complaint or claim in the future. Otherwise, he should return the money to the owners of Marina Rubicón, in addition to paying them 3 million euros in compensation.
In that case, after the complainant withdrew from the lawsuits, both the contentious and the criminal case were dismissed and we had to wait ten years for what happened with the construction of the port to be investigated, within the Yate case. However, this will not happen with the Stratvs case, where the Prosecutor's Office has been involved from the beginning and where the popular accusation of Urban Transparency also continues, which was the one who denounced the case.
