The Teguise City Council has reported this Wednesday that the Contentious-Administrative Court number 1 of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, which dismisses the appeal filed by Banco Santander and ratifies the nullity of five financial contracts of interest rate swaps (known as Swaps) signed between 2004 and 2009.
The judicial ruling confirms that the decision of the City Council Plenary in September 2022, to declare these contracts null and void due to "insurmountable flaws" in their processing, was in accordance with the law.
The sentence recognizes that these financial products "were not linked to hedging operations nor did they comply with the procedures required by public procurement regulations", which is why they "must be considered null and void". Likewise, the judge imposes the costs of the trial on the bank, which he also reproaches for "having omitted essential guarantees in its relationship with the public administration".
The mayoress of Teguise and head of Finance, Olivia Duque, has valued the ruling as a "very important milestone for the general interests of the municipality" and has stressed that "this judicial victory is the result of years of rigorous work, of the defense of the public interest above any financial pressure, and of the political courage to review decisions of the past that weighed us down economically and morally".
"Teguise could not continue dragging contracts that should never have been signed, that harm our neighbors, and that were signed without due legal controls. This sentence shows that we were right, they were not hedging products, but speculative instruments imposed without transparency or guarantees," added the mayoress.
Duque wanted to expressly highlight the great technical and legal work that has been behind this process. "Without the commitment, dedication and solvency of the City Council's Finance technician, it would not have been possible to get here. It has been a meticulous, courageous and firm work, which deserves all our institutional recognition," she concluded.
According to the City Council, the sentence also states that "the contracts were prepared and presented by Banco Santander itself without the mandatory participation of essential bodies of the City Council, such as the Intervention or the General Secretariat." The court considers that there was a total omission of the legally required administrative procedure, which justifies the radical nullity of the same.
The Teguise City Council has assured that it defends "the interests of citizens against any type of abuse." Duque concluded that this resolution "marks the way for other institutions that still suffer the consequences of these toxic financial products" and that "Teguise will continue to act with firmness, transparency and responsibility."
