The Court of Instruction Number 4 of Arrecife has agreed to summon as investigated all the councilors who were part of the group of Canary Coalition in the Yaiza City Council in 2004, when they approved an agreement by which the Council ceded 30,000 square meters of public land for free. Among other things, Juan Francisco Rosa installed the Kikoland on that land, turning what should have been a green area for public use into a private business with leisure activities linked to one of his illegal hotels, the Princesa Yaiza. And all this without even paying any type of fee to the City Council for that occupation.
In this case, the former mayor, José Francisco Reyes, Juan Francisco Rosa himself and the businessman Juan Luis Lorenzo were already charged (what is now called investigated). However, more than two years after the instruction began, the Prosecutor's Office requested a few months ago to summon all the other councilors of CC, since the agreement was approved in the Plenary with their favorable votes, despite not being endorsed by any report, so it understands that they could also incur in criminal responsibilities.
“Proceed to carry out the requested tests”, orders Judge Jerónimo Alonso in a provision in response to the Prosecutor's Office's writing. In that writing, the prosecutor Celia María Asensio also requested other new diligences to advance in the investigation of this case, which began as a result of a complaint filed in 2017 by the then councilors of Podemos in the Cabildo, Carlos Meca, Pablo Ramírez and Griselda Martínez, who are present as a popular accusation.
Regarding the CC councilors, the prosecutor expressly requested the citation of Narcisa Peña, José Antonio Rodríguez (already convicted of prevarication together with Reyes in the Stratvs case), Pedro Viñoly, Ángel Domínguez (current deputy mayor of Yaiza) and José Antonio Lemes. In addition, he requested that a requirement be sent to the Secretariat of the Yaiza City Council to identify the seventh CC councilor, since a certificate from the City Council indicates that the agreement was approved with the vote in favor of the seven councilors of the Canary Coalition, but in another only those six names appear. In that mandate that began in 2002, the seventh CC councilor in Yaiza was María Asunción Santana, and what the City Council must now certify is whether she attended that Plenary and whether she also voted in favor of the agreement.
Statements of the accused suspended and without a new date
Although the magistrate already ordered that this diligence requested by the Prosecutor's Office be carried out, no date has been set so far, although the Court has already contacted the City Council to request the address of these councilors and former councilors, in order to send them the notification.
Meanwhile, almost three years after the instruction began, the people who were already listed as investigated have not yet testified either. Initially they had been summoned for last February, but the statements were suspended and after the state of alarm broke out, they had not been given a date again. Then, last August they were set for this month of October, but finally they have also been delayed again and a new day has not yet been established.
It was Rosa's lawyer, José Antonio Choclán Montalvo -who has represented defendants in the main corruption cases opened in Spain-, who requested that the statements be suspended, alleging that they coincided with appointments of other clients. One of them was a statement within the Banco Popular case, in which he represents the former president of the entity, Ángel Ron Güimil, investigated for manipulating the bank's accounting to hide its bankruptcy, in addition to other crimes.
“What is requested is accessed for reasons of agenda and lack of technical means for its recording with respect to the statements of the 22nd”, the Court finally responded in a diligence dated October 7. However, the judge did maintain those that are set for this Thursday, October 29, in this case of witnesses. In this way, he did not heed the request of Choclán Montalvo, indicating that if he cannot attend he can be “replaced by another colleague from the office” or attend telematically.
Thus, pending a new date being set for the statements that were suspended last week and for the new investigated, this Thursday two people are summoned who the Prosecutor's Office had requested to appear as witnesses, since in 2004 they represented the opposition in the municipality and voted against that agreement. One of them is the one who was then the spokesperson for the PSOE in Yaiza, Marcial Valiente, and the other the spokesperson for the PP, José Carlos Rojas. In addition, the statement as a witness of the former mayor of Yaiza, Gladys Acuña, is also pending, who in 2004 was in the opposition and was the spokesperson for the PIL. Later, after reaching the Mayor's Office, she founded Unidos por Yaiza together with some former councilors of CC, including José Antonio Rodríguez. This former councilor, who will now be summoned again in this new case, was already convicted together with Gladys Acuña, Reyes and three other councilors in the Stratvs case, also for issuing resolutions knowing of their illegality for the benefit of Juan Francisco Rosa.
With the statement of the three witnesses, who in their day led the opposition to José Francisco Reyes, the Prosecutor's Office wants them to explain “the circumstances in which the agreements of April 2, 2004 were approved in the Plenary of the Yaiza City Council”, where they all voted against that agreement, which was only supported by CC. In addition, he also wants to ask them about another subsequent agreement with Salmepa, from 2006, which in this case was approved by CC in the Governing Board and without going through the Plenary.
