The Court of Instruction Number 3 of Arrecife has agreed to dismiss and file the case opened a decade ago against the former Minister of Tourism Centers, Carlos Espino, who was being investigated in the procedure along with four other people. "The conclusion cannot be other than exoneration," concludes Magistrate José Luis Ruiz Martínez, who a few months ago replaced the controversial judge Rafael Lis in this Court, who has a proposed sanction from the General Council of the Judiciary for his intervention in this case and who has already served another sanction for a very serious offense in the exercise of his office.
In a 15-page order, the new judge begins by reviewing everything that has happened with these proceedings, which he says have had a "tortuous and certainly more than protracted voyage". The procedure began in 2010 as a result of a complaint filed by the management of the Tourist Centers, then chaired by Ástrid Pérez, who governed together with the Canarian Coalition. In addition, another complaint had previously been filed with the UCO by the former president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, coinciding with the public outbreak of the Unión case, in which Espino was the complainant.
Finally, both proceedings ended up joining together and since then, according to the judge who has just agreed to file them, they have had an "unusual and surprising gap in the procedural sequence", including appeals that did not receive a response from the previous judge, changes of names or surnames of the investigated and citations that took years to occur at the hands of those errors in the Court. "Its adjectivation can be described, without calling for misunderstandings, as absolutely unfortunate," adds the magistrate, who among other things speaks of an "unjustified slowdown" and also of "indolence in the resolution of the numerous appeals for reform urging its nullity".
He questions the complaint and the "nebulous context outlined by the plaintiff"
Regarding the complaint that initiated the procedure and the subsequent extension that was presented, the magistrate points out that it contains "a factual account that is certainly profuse, confusing and diffuse". Regarding one of the imputed crimes, that of bribery, he points out that it is not even "connected with the facts reflected in the complaint" nor in the "nebulous context outlined by the plaintiff".
In addition, after analyzing the facts narrated in the complaint, the documents provided and the statements made during the investigation by defendants and witnesses, he concludes that there is no evidence of embezzlement, prevarication or documentary falsification, either by Espino or by the other people who continued to be investigated in the case, including Antonio González Medina, Enrique José Gutiérrez Farez, Mario Alberto Perdomo and Gloria Valenciano. Regarding other people who were involved in the past, he points out that those accusations were "fortunately dropped" years ago.
"Any kind of participation must be ruled out," the order states with respect to those who were identified as "necessary cooperators" in the extension of the complaint filed by the CACT under the mandate of Pedro San Ginés in the Cabildo. Regarding Espino, he concludes that in all the reported and investigated facts there is "existence of contracts, execution of the same, adjustment of prices to the market" and "intervention in the process of authorized persons", including in the works carried out in the kitchen of Jameos. Regarding the price increase that these works had, he points out that it was 44,890 euros, "which does not represent an increase of more than 20% of the total work", so it falls within what is "legally foreseen". In addition, he reproduces statements from witnesses who recounted the "unforeseen technical issues" that arose during the execution of the works, such as "leaks".
Jiménez de Asúa "has roamed freely through the procedure"
The order of the new head of the Court of Instruction Number 3 of Arrecife also questions his predecessor for the role he allowed the controversial Association of Jurists Jiménez de Asúa to have in this case, which was later expelled by the Provincial Court.
"He has roamed freely through the procedure," the new magistrate points out, referring to the "varied proceedings" that he requested and that were attended to by Rafael Lis. In addition, he emphasizes that this had its "high point" when AJJA managed to get the previous judge to issue an order that he describes as "unusual, if not reckless". In that order, and at the request of this association of jurists, Lis imposed millionaire bonds on the defendants. And he did so, according to the new investigating judge, "without opening the mandatory piece of civil liability", without giving a hearing to the parties and "without the concurrence of the plaintiff and the Public Prosecutor". That is to say, only attending to the request of the popular accusation, exercised by an association that had already been removed from other procedures due to doubts about its true purposes, and that has been compared by the Prosecutor's Office with a "Trojan horse with illegitimate interests".
That order was already annulled by the substitute judge who took charge of the Court while Rafael Lis was serving a six-month suspension from employment and salary for a very serious offense. The reason for that sanction was that Lis continued to intervene in a case in which he had been challenged for having a "direct or indirect interest", due to his links with Juan Francisco Rosa, since the judge's wife was a lawyer for the businessman. After serving that sanction, Rafael Lis returned to the Court, although a few months ago he left the position when he reached retirement age. It was then that the new magistrate took charge of the Court and this case, who at the request of the defendants took their statements a few weeks ago and has now decided to file the procedure.
