The Second Section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas has suspended this Wednesday all sessions of the Jable trial, the last piece of the Unión case to be judged, scheduled for April and May.
According to the Court, the trial will resume on September 11 and will have sessions until the 22nd of that month.
The case, scheduled to begin last Monday, April 17, was suspended in its first sessions, pending a forensic doctor reviewing the health situation of one of the main defendants, the former mayor of Arrecife, Isabel Déniz.
Déniz's defense had submitted a brief the week before the start of the hearing to request its suspension. The investigated claims to be experiencing postoperative problems. For the moment, it will not be until June that a doctor will review "if she is truly in a condition to attend," the Court has revealed.
Operation Jable, named by the Central Operative Unit (UCO) that investigated the case, is the most complex case in the Canary Islands in terms of volume and extension.
This alleged corruption scheme arises from irregularities in the tenders to the company Urbaser for the garbage and cleaning contract of the Arrecife City Council during the term of Mayor Isabel Déniz (2001-2007). In addition, from the awarding to Fomento Construcciones y Contratas (FCC) of the construction of the Argana Alta pavilion.
Isabel Déniz faces the alleged authorship of the continued crimes of prevarication and bribery, as well as illicit association, for which she could reach 13 years in prison.
In the case, another 11 people remain accused, after last Monday the Public Prosecutor's Office withdrew the accusation against five investigated: Enrique Astorga, Manuel Jesús Isidro Spínola, Julio Romero, Daniel Hernández Caraballo and Rafael Antonio Corujo.
Among them, the historical leader of the Party of Independents of Lanzarote (PIL), Dímás Martín, remains accused; the former head of the Technical Office of the Arrecife City Council Juan Rafael Arrocha and the former secretary of the corporation, Felipe Fernández Camero. In addition, former senior officials of Urbaser, a former leader of FCC, the former socialist secretary Miguel Ángel Leal, as well as the partners of Déniz and Martín as participants for lucrative purposes.
Also, so far three accused people have confessed to having bribed Isabel Déniz in exchange for contracts with the City Council. The former FCC executive Enrique Hernández Martín acknowledged that he "gifted" a trip to Morocco to Déniz in exchange for the tender for the Argana Alta pavilion.
This confession was added to that of the two former Urbaser leaders Manuel de Andrés Martínez and Santiago Alonso Herrero, who remain pointed out for a crime of bribery for bribing to obtain the garbage contract. Along with the confession and after showing their intention to collaborate with Justice, they paid a fine that amounted to 220,000 euros between the two.
