The Stratvs case trial continued this Tuesday in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria with a new session in which five Seprona agents who participated in the complex's inspections testified and ratified their reports warning of contamination in the wastewater system, which is one of the crimes being judged in this case. "It was nauseating," they said, referring to the smell emanating from the well and septic tanks.
In addition, they reported that the first thing they did upon arriving at the winery with a court order was to ask for the projects, and the property refused to hand them over, so they indicated that it was "obvious" that it was an "illegal" installation.
Regarding the manholes, they explained that most of them "were sealed with silicone" when they should be able to be opened for maintenance and cleaning, as well as for emptying them monthly. In this regard, they added that what they were told was that they were closed because "the bad smell" was filtering through and reaching the barrel terrace area, which the property used as a bar and to host various events without any type of license.
Solid fecal waste even in the last pit
In addition, as already stated in their reports, the agents stressed that in the case of the restaurant, the manholes had been covered with earth and plants had been placed on top. "We opened the ones we could," said the civil guards, who are specialized in this matter and traveled from Gran Canaria to Lanzarote to participate in these inspections and take samples.
Regarding these samples, they specified that they took them at the three levels of the septic tanks and not only at the first, contrary to what Juan Francisco Rosa's defense claims. Thus, although only decanted and treated wastewater should reach the third one, the agents reported that they found solid material in all of them, coming, among other things, from the complex's various bathrooms.
"The smell was nauseating," they insisted during the trial. In fact, they explained that when opening each manhole, they even had to move away for a few minutes to avoid breathing those "toxic gases." In this regard, they specified that this was one of the problems with the installation, since by not having any type of ventilation and the manholes being sealed, the contaminated air was condensing inside. "It was obvious that they were not cleaned," declared the agents, who offered an extensive and detailed statement, two of them by videoconference.
The contamination reached the restaurant wall
In addition, they reported that due to the slope of the land, the wastewater from the pits that were on the terrace ended up going to the semi-underground restaurant area, where they found leaks in a wall that was covered with vegetation. "It had mold," they recalled, explaining that they also took samples of that soil and the analyses reflected high levels of contamination.
Both Juan Francisco Rosa himself and the former manager of the Insular Water Council, José Juan Hernández Duchemín, are accused in this case of a crime against the environment, for that emission of polluting discharges. In the case of Duchemín, he reported in favor of giving a provisional permit to the discharge system even though there were already analyses that warned of the contamination. That permit was only for six months and established that monthly analyses had to be done, but neither did the administration come to take any samples nor did it act when that provisional permit expired and the Stratvs complex continued to operate.
"I trusted," declared José Juan Hernández Duchemín in the trial, referring to a report that Rosa himself had provided to obtain that authorization. As for the businessman, he assured that he did carry out his own controls and that the results of the analyses were "incredible, fantastic. Better impossible," although the testimony of the agents confirms that even the manholes had been sealed with silicone.
A policeman who had to claim the file from Yaiza
During this Tuesday's session, a National Police agent who went to the Yaiza Town Hall to claim the Stratvs file also testified. It was the investigating judge of the case, Silvia Muñoz, who ordered the Police to intervene and go to the Town Hall to claim that complete file, after verifying that the Town Hall had not delivered all the documents despite the Court's request.
In addition, the regional manager of Cadastre in the Canary Islands, José Antonio Mateos Tejada, has also testified as a witness in relation to another of the crimes being investigated and for which both Rosa and the head of the Cadastre in Yaiza, Blas Noda, are accused. In his statement, Mateos has confirmed that it is not possible to change the ownership of a property without notifying the interested parties and that they have to be given a hearing. However, in the case of Stratvs, Noda changed the ownership and put it in Rosa's name at the request of the businessman, who built the winery on land that was not his property and then put it in his name in the Cadastre.
The trial will continue this Thursday in Gran Canaria with the testimony of other witnesses and will continue next week on that same island. Then, from March 12, more sessions will be held again in Lanzarote, already with the testimony of the experts.
