The five defendants in the Monte Carlo case related to the San Bartolomé City Council have confessed to embezzling public funds from the Consistory and have accepted the penalties requested by the Prosecutor's Office, which at the beginning of the trial that was to be held this Tuesday has reduced its request for all the defendants, applying as a mitigating factor the "collaboration with Justice", after reaching an agreement with all of them.
Thus, the hearing that was to last three days has not been held and the Sixth Section of the Provincial Court has limited itself to confirming the confession of the former auditor Carlos Sáenz, the former mayor Miguel Martín, the former finance councilor Javier Betancort, the treasurer of the City Council, Luis Manuel Rodríguez, and the businessman José Vicente Montesinos, who have acknowledged the looting of more than 470,000 euros from the City Council and have also agreed to return the part that each contributed to embezzle.
From 12 to 3 years in prison for the auditor
In the case of Carlos Saénz, for whom the Public Prosecutor's Office initially requested 12 years in prison for alleged continued crimes of bribery, embezzlement, prevarication and falsification of a public document, has accepted a sentence of three years in prison, more than four years of disqualification and a fine of 65,000 euros.
Saénz, who is currently in prison for another conviction in the Unión case, already confessed in the Monte Carlo case focused on Fuerteventura, where he was the auditor of the La Oliva City Council, and also did so a few weeks ago in another of the Unión case pieces in which he was accused and in which he acknowledged having embezzled funds from the Arrecife City Council by authorizing payments for services that had not been provided.
For the businessman José Vicente Montesinos, who already during the investigation acknowledged having given bribes to the auditor in exchange for authorizing the payment of his invoices, the sentence has been reduced from 11 years and 11 months in prison to two years in prison, one and a half years of disqualification and a fine of 65,000 euros.
One year for the other three defendants
As for the other three defendants, all faced a request for almost six years in prison for crimes of prevarication and embezzlement, but will finally only be sentenced to one year in prison and it will now depend on the Prosecutor's Office to request or not their entry into the Tahíche Penitentiary Center, as they are sentences of less than two years.
In the case of Javier Betancort, who was a councilor for Finance of San Bartolomé and is currently the manager of the communication group of Juan Francisco Rosa, has accepted one year in prison and one and a half years of disqualification from employment or public office, in addition to the payment of civil liability, committing to return the part of the money that he contributed to embezzle by authorizing the payment of invoices to Montesinos' companies knowing that they were false.
It should be remembered that after leaving the City Council, Betancort began working for Montesinos and both are accused in another piece of Monte Carlo pending trial, also for allegedly fraudulent payments they received from the Arrecife City Council. In that piece they will return to sit on the bench together with Carlos Sáenz, who was the auditor of both municipalities. In addition, there was another defendant in both pieces who died during the investigation, Cándido Reguera, who was a councilor for Finance in San Bartolomé before Javier Betancort and who later became mayor of Arrecife.
As for the treasurer of San Bartolomé, Luis Manuel Rodríguez Pérez, has accepted a sentence of one year in prison and one and a half years of disqualification, which is the same that will also be imposed on the former mayor Miguel Martín.
"Yes, Your Honor"
Although the investigation of the Monte Carlo case began almost a decade ago and the Prosecutor's Office's indictment is more than three years old, it has been in the days prior to the trial when the defendants have decided to confess and reach an agreement of conformity. And they have done so in the face of the forcefulness of the evidence gathered in this investigation, initiated in its day by the prosecutor Ignacio Stampa, who currently practices in the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office in Madrid.
As soon as the trial began, the prosecutor who has replaced him in this case announced the agreements reached and the reduction in the request for penalties. Then, the president of the Chamber, Emilio Moya, addressed all the defendants to confirm whether they recognized the facts narrated by the Public Prosecutor's Office in its indictment. "Yes, Your Honor", they have limited themselves to point out all, also ratifying that they accept the new penalties that the prosecutor requests for them.
Afterwards, the magistrate turned to them again to ask them if they also commit to pay the civil liability, to which they responded affirmatively. In this, the lawyer of the City Council of San Bartolomé, who is present in the case as a private prosecution, to recover the embezzled money, had emphasized. Afterwards, the lawyers of all the defendants pointed out that they did not consider the holding of the trial necessary, so Moya lifted the session announcing that they will dictate a sentence in the agreed terms.
As for the facts that they have recognized, they are those that are included in the indictment signed in its day by Stampa, which indicated that the auditor "colluded" with the other four defendants to carry out the "unjustified payment of high amounts of public money to companies linked to José Vicente Montesinos".
As they have admitted this Tuesday, all the defendants participated "in common agreement, taking advantage of the public functions that each of them held" and tried to give "appearance of legality" to those payments, awarding contracts in a "fraudulent" way to the companies of Montesinos. According to those contracts, the businessman was going to perform alleged advisory services related to the collection of municipal taxes, but those services were never provided and yet the invoices were paid.
To this is added another crime of embezzlement recognized by Carlos Sáenz, who also awarded himself "directly and fraudulently undue amounts as remuneration for the exercise of his position", having received about 75,000 euros more than what corresponded to him.
