The Whatsapp conversations analyzed by the UCO on Ignacio Calatayud's mobile phone reveal that the lawyer actively participated in Pedro San Ginés' defense strategy for the trial for the seizure of the Montaña Roja desalination plant, despite the fact that he himself was involved, since he was going to testify as a witness and had previously been charged in the case.
In addition, the messages also reflect how they managed a meeting with the Prosecutor's Office with the aim of influencing the trial, where the Public Prosecutor's Office finally ended up requesting acquittal.
“Have we formally requested the meeting with (Prosecutor's Office) yet? I was going to try through Clavijo, who knows someone who knows him, to have them receive us,” wrote Pedro San Ginés in a WhatsApp group he shared with his lawyers, José María Calero Martínez and Carlos Viñas, and with Calatayud himself, under the name "San Ginés Trial".
“This last thing is very important. The appointment!!!”, replied Ignacio Calatayud. “Good morning Pedro. I see that route you are proposing as a better card than the one I have now. It should be tried that way and if not, we'll see,” added Carlos Viñas, who is San Ginés' brother-in-law and dean of the Lanzarote Bar Association.
“Tremendous performance”, “let's go for the next one!!!”
That conversation took place on September 16, 2021, after Viñas shared in the group a screenshot of the news that La Voz de Lanzarote had published that day, under the title “the Court fines San Ginés 1,000 euros for trying to remove with 'bad faith' the magistrate who must judge him”.
A year earlier, in September 2020, Pedro San Ginés' defense had managed to suspend the trial when the first day had already been held, after even threatening the judge with taking legal action against her. “Tremendous performance. Today has been a very intense day for me and I have learned a lot. Thank you teacher!!! and to the rest of the team, Nacho, Presi, tremendous team. We were going for the game and here is the result. Let's go for the next one!!!”, Viñas wrote that day in the same WhatsApp group.
Months later, the Court overturned the arguments with which San Ginés' lawyer managed to obtain that suspension and confirmed that the magistrate who had initiated the trial was indeed competent to hold it.
“Now I'm really screwed”
“Does the AP (Provincial Court) want to return the case? Now I'm really screwed,” Pedro San Ginés wrote in the group on December 15, 2020, after learning the news that the procedure was returning to the Criminal Court.
Then they filed the challenge against the magistrate, which led to that fine from the Court, which described it as “interested”, “unjustified” and “unsustainable”, and concluded that San Ginés' sole objective was to remove a judge “who is uncomfortable for him”.
Then, as the new trial was already inevitable, conversations began in the WhatsApp group to arrange that meeting with the Prosecutor's Office. And the first to insist again was Calatayud, this time for Carlos Viñas to process it.
“Good morning Don Carlos!!! How is the appointment management going...?”, he asked Viñas. “Please brother-in-law. You already have the no. Asking for an appointment is not a crime and my present and future are at stake. I am innocent in a trial that should not be held,” added San Ginés.
“Yes Pedro, we are going to ask for it because it is you, eh!!! Well, and because I don't want to sleep on the roof,” replied the dean of the Lanzarote Bar Association, who is married to Pedro San Ginés' sister.
“Look, I'll buy the reason you want. But I'm noting the roof thing. Isn't that done with a call?”, San Ginés insisted. In addition, he explained what the result of his efforts with the former president of the Government of the Canary Islands, his CC partner Fernando Clavijo - who has also faced several legal cases - had been to organize that meeting with the prosecutor.
“Clavijo told me that this one is not exactly close”
“Clavijo told me that 'his mediation could be positive, but also the opposite', that the Prosecutor's Office is strange and this one is not exactly close,” added San Ginés when talking about the prosecutor.
Viñas then responded that he “shared that opinion” and that he was “afraid” that “the shot would backfire”. “I don't think you understand me. Clavijo believes that if he asks for it instead of you, that's when the shot can backfire. You should ask for it from professional to professional,” San Ginés clarified to the dean, urging him to request that meeting.
“Good afternoon. How is that request going, Carlos? The net is tightening,” he insisted two days later in the group.
“Meeting held. Good sensations”
Finally, the response came the next day. “Appointment with Don ....granted,” confirmed Carlos Viñas. He also offered two alternative dates, giving “the teacher” the choice, referring to the lawyer José María Calero, who represented San Ginés in this trial and is Ignacio Calatayud's uncle. Calero responded confirming the appointment for November 2, 2021 at 12 noon.
“Good morning. I'm going to light some candles,” San Ginés wrote that morning in the group. Later, José María Calero wrote to Calatayud: “Meeting held. Good sensations. I'll tell you later”.
The trial for the seizure of the Montaña Roja desalination plant was finally held between May and June of this year, and in his final conclusions the prosecutor requested the acquittal of the three defendants.
Until the investigation of the case was completed, the Public Prosecutor's Office maintained the same criteria as the investigating judge, and even opposed all the appeals filed by the defendants against the order that initiated the procedure to bring it to trial.
However, he later changed his mind, coinciding with the estimation of one of those appeals - that of the then defendant Ignacio Calatayud - by the Provincial Court. The order was issued by Judge Salvador Alba, who was later convicted of serious corruption crimes in the exercise of his position and is currently in prison. He was the one who “uncharged” Calatayud, and as a result of this the Prosecutor's Office decided not to file charges against the rest.
Even so, he attended all the sessions of the trial, where he could have modified his qualification, and interrogated defendants, witnesses and experts. When presenting his final conclusions, the prosecutor pointed out that the seizure measure was not “proportional”, that “there were less burdensome measures” and that the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands itself warned that it was a “serious administrative action”. However, he argued that the fact that an administrative resolution is null does not “necessarily” imply that there is a crime of malfeasance.
San Ginés' lawyer, José María Calero, later subscribed “entirely” to the prosecutor's final intervention, which he described as “brilliant”; while the lawyer for the popular accusation underlined that “the change of criteria of the Prosecutor's Office is not understood, which until June 2018 maintained that there were "sufficient indications" of a crime.
The sentence finally acquitted the three defendants, although the ruling is not final and is currently pending the appeal filed by the popular accusation.