The president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, has acknowledged this Monday that he personally negotiated the agreement with Club Lanzarote, with which they intend to put an end to all the contentious lawsuits opened as a result of the seizure of the Montaña Roja desalination plant, and that has already led to one of them being dismissed. In addition, he has described as "magnificent" that agreement, which was presented in court without having been approved by any body and that was not even presented to the Insular Water Council.
Regarding the consequences that this agreement could have in the criminal case in which he is charged with crimes of malfeasance and coercion, San Ginés has avoided making a statement. And he has done the same when asked if this will mean that Club Lanzarote, which filed the lawsuit against him, will now withdraw as a private prosecution in that case. "I am not here to speculate or to believe," the president replied.
Thus, he has limited himself to pointing out that the agreement only refers to the contentious lawsuits opened with the company. And despite the negotiations he has personally held with Club Lanzarote, he has stated that the only "information" he has is "what the agreement contains".
The agreement was neither signed nor will be signed
During the press conference he offered this Monday to talk about the judicial order that has "approved" that agreement, and that was advanced last week by La Voz, San Ginés has pointed out that it is now when it will be "signed" by the parties. However, shortly after, the Cabildo has issued a statement "clarifying" that it will not be so. "According to the legal services of the Cabildo, it has the executive character of a sentence and its signature is not necessary", the press release states, thus contradicting what the president had stated.
In addition, the statement adds that the order "warns of the consequences of its breach", so the institution is now obliged to execute it. And it is that although San Ginés has stated that this agreement was not signed, and has acknowledged that it was only taken to the Water Consortium and that this body did not approve it, but only agreed to send it to the Courts, the truth is that it was presented in court as an agreement already reached and accepted by both parties.
Specifically, what was submitted to the Court was not the agreement that San Ginés unsuccessfully tried to approve last August, but the result of a "mediation", although its content was exactly the same. The mediator was chosen by mutual agreement between the institution and Club Lanzarote from among the three mediators available to the contentious courts, and according to San Ginés, those who intervened in that mediation on behalf of the institution were the "legal services" of the Cabildo, although he has not specified through which lawyers.
He did not preside over the Consortium meeting but he did negotiate the agreement
Regarding the content of that agreement, the "clarifying" note sent by the Cabildo after the press conference points out that it was "effectively negotiated by the president with the promoters, but counting at all times with the supervision and endorsement of the legal services, so much so, that the proposal was submitted to the Consortium together with the legal and technical-economic reports that supported it". It should be remembered that San Ginés was not present at the Consortium meeting where the agreement was discussed, delegating his functions to Echedey Eugenio, and neither was the secretary of the institution, Pancho Perdomo, who, like the president, is charged in the case for the seizure of the desalination plant. However, despite this possible cause of incompatibility to participate in the approval of the agreement, San Ginés did negotiate directly with the promoters.
As La Voz de Lanzarote published at the time, it should be remembered that even members of Coalición Canaria, which holds the majority in this body, raised objections to approving the agreement at the Consortium meeting. Specifically, the mayor of Teguise asked that it be made clear that the agreement was not being approved, which was what was indicated in the first item on the agenda, but only agreeing to send it to the Courts.
As for the Water Council, like the Consortium, a meeting was convened and then cancelled, but in this case a new date was not set, so it did not even take cognizance of the agreement. San Ginés has also been asked about this, but again he has avoided explaining why the Water Council was not even informed of this agreement. "Because it was taken to the Consortium", he has limited himself to answering, despite the fact that they are different bodies with different competences and composition, to the point that in the Council CC is in minority. Now, he affirms that what will be done is to "report on the agreement approved by the courts".
Defends that there has been "transparency" showing articles from La Voz
In his appearance, San Ginés has responded to the criticisms of the opposition for the "opacity" with which this negotiation has been carried out and has done so by defending that he has acted with "transparency". And to support this he has shown press clippings and, among others, has referred to information published by La Voz de Lanzarote, which was the one that advanced the content of the agreement with Club and also the judicial order approving that agreement, of which the Cabildo had not informed until that moment.
In the case of the lawsuit that has been dismissed, the reason for the litigation was a decree signed by San Ginés in 2016, revoking the authorization that the company had to produce water. Now, the agreement involves the annulment of that decree and the recognition of Club Lanzarote's right to produce water. On this point, and in reference to a news item published by La Voz, San Ginés has assured that he never stated that Club did not have authorization to produce water. "I have never said that", he assured the media. However, after reminding him not only of previous press conferences and press releases, but also of the arguments used by the institution in the courts to defend the seizure, the president ended up acknowledging that this was "another of the arguments" he used to justify that precautionary measure.
Specifically, what the Water Council maintained is that by not responding to the request for extension that the company submitted in 2012, the authorization had expired. However, that argument was overturned by the courts when they annulled the seizure, and what San Ginés did afterwards was to sign a decree expressly revoking the permit. Now, that decree has also been annulled with this agreement before the Court.
Announces revenues of up to 400,000 euros for the Consortium
As for the rest of the agreement, it means that Club will continue selling and charging water to the residents of Montaña Roja, although now the Water Consortium will appear as responsible for the sale, which will "cede" the management of the service to this company. In addition, Club Lanzarote will not only issue the invoices but will also keep the billing, paying a fee of 15 percent to the Consortium, but only in relation to sales to third parties. Both the supply of its own hotel in this partial plan and that of other properties of the company, including the future golf course, will be understood as self-consumption and will be exempt from the payment of the fee.
Regarding what is expected to be collected with that fee, San Ginés has put it at "between 350,000 and 400,000 euros". And unlike what happened after the seizure, when the president handed over the plants and their benefits to Canal Gestión, now that fee will remain in the hands of the Consortium.
Regarding the seizure, and in response to the statements of one of his government partners, San Ginés has stated that "if he had to make the decision today, and in view of what the courts have determined, and in view of the controversy, it is obvious that he would not have done it". Thus, he has assured that Manuel Cabrera's statement that "San Ginés assumed some time ago that he screwed up with the seizure of the desalination plant" is "nothing new".
However, he insisted that "with the information he had then, he would have done it". It should be remembered that this "information" did not include a single written report proposing or endorsing that measure, but San Ginés did not want to talk about it during his appearance either. Thus, when asked if he did not consider that he should have requested at least a written report before ordering the seizure, he replied that this is "stirring up the past" and that he had called a press conference to "talk about the novelty", which is the agreement with Club Lanzarote and the judicial order.