The Court of Instruction Number 2 of Arrecife has finished the investigation of another criminal case against the former president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, concluding that there are “rational indications of criminality” to bring him to trial for a crime of false accusation and/or perjury in the case of the Tourist Centers, of which he was the complainant and witness, and which ended up being dismissed ten years later.
The complaint against San Ginés was filed by the daughter of one of the people who were affected by that investigation, the now deceased Antonio González Medina. Now, after the investigation is exhausted, Magistrate Jerónimo Alonso has opened the term to present the indictments against San Ginés, which is the previous step to the opening of oral trial. Specifically, he has given 10 days to the Public Prosecutor's Office and to the private prosecution to present those writings.
“The illicit action of the investigated party developed through various police and judicial actions that took place between December 2009 and October 2019, openly lying and imputing to Antonio González Medina and the entity Climafrical S.L. various illicit acts of undoubted importance and gravity, justifies the opening of an accusation trial against him”, the judge states in his order, dated February 9.
The magistrate recalls that Pedro San Ginés first went to the UCO agents, who had traveled to the island when the Unión case broke out, “in order to, knowing the injustice and lack of veracity of his accusations and with full knowledge of this, try to artificially involve third parties unrelated to said investigation in illicit acts of the same or similar nature”. Furthermore, he emphasizes that the complainant in the Unión case was Carlos Espino, against whom San Ginés was asking for actions to be initiated. “The intention of the investigated party was clear,” the judge concludes.
In addition, Pedro San Ginés also later went to the Duty Court, where he personally filed another complaint, “making the same false accusations”, according to the magistrate. To this was added the one later filed by the Tourist Centers under his presidency in the Cabildo, and all ended up in the same procedure, in which San Ginés testified twice as a witness, maintaining his “false accusations”.
"It affected the functioning of Justice and the investigated"
“This affected both the proper functioning of the Administration of Justice and the honor and interests of those who had to endure a long criminal investigation,” the magistrate points out.
In the case of Antonio González, the judge emphasizes that San Ginés' “illicit action” had consequences “both from a personal point of view, being subjected to a long investigation, and from a financial point of view, to the point, for example, that he was required to provide a bond for the amount of 1,362,809.44 euros”.
Thus, after completing the investigation of the case, for the judge “it is evident” that “there are sufficient elements of judgment to initially conclude that the defendant, Pedro San Ginés Gutiérrez, would have carried out the typical conduct described both in the crime of false accusation and in the crime of perjury given in a criminal case”.
The first crime responds to the filing of the complaint and the other to the statements he made later as a witness, although the Provincial Court pointed out that both are related, so they could be joined into one. However, the investigating magistrate keeps both options open in his order.
Penalties of up to three years in prison for perjury
In the case of the crime of false accusation, the Penal Code establishes penalties of between six months and two years in prison and a fine of twelve to twenty-four months, when a serious crime is imputed to a third party “with knowledge of its falsity or reckless disregard for the truth”.
Regarding perjury, it is punished with penalties of between one and three years in prison and a fine of six to twelve months when that testimony is given in a criminal case for a crime, as was the case in the investigation of the Centers, until it was finally dismissed after finding no indications of criminality or veracity in the reported facts.
