The Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the Third Section of the National Court has dismissed the contentious-administrative appeal filed by the businessman José Ramón Vizcaíno against the instruction of the Unión case in a Court of Arrecife and for which he requested compensation of more than one million euros for "material and moral" damages.
Ramón Vizcaíno filed an appeal against the dismissal by silence of the claim for patrimonial responsibility that he had filed against the administration of Justice for an alleged "abnormal functioning" in the preliminary proceedings of Operation Unión, in which he was investigated.
The businessman José Ramón Vizcaíno was investigated for an alleged crime of punishable insolvency and money laundering in 2008. At that time, the courts of First Instance and Instruction number 5 of Arrecife, which carried out the investigation, agreed to impose on him the prohibition of disposing of the assets in his name and those of the two companies he managed, Pinturas y Decoración Puente Las Bolas SL and Obras e Inversiones Lanzfuergran SL.
In addition, they prohibited him from accessing his bills of exchange and invoices pending payment, which were seized during the search. The precautionary measures were maintained until in 2012 the Court of Instruction number 4 of Arrecife assumed the investigation of the separate piece Operaciones Jable y Unión and issued in 2018 the provisional dismissal and filing of the case, in which Dimas Martín was also investigated.
The businessman argued that "for years" he was kept in "a situation of procedural oblivion", in which he did not appear between 2010 and 2013 as investigated in the case and that as a consequence "he saw his rights to an adequate defense limited by not being able to have knowledge of the process" nor "make use of the appropriate means to defend his interests."
During the time that the instruction lasted, the businessman requested the Court to lift the precautionary measure of prohibition and to return the promissory notes and invoices seized to him, which were already expired or about to expire, and offered that the amounts obtained remain at the disposal of the Court. Although the Chamber urged the judicial secretary to carry out "the appropriate steps" to receive the payment of the promissory notes and deposit them in the accounts of the Court, the businessman denounces that "no action was ever taken."
Likewise, he claimed from the Justice the payment of compensations of 385,179 euros for not being able to build houses with a license already granted in Teguise for not being able to dispose of his assets; the loss of 157,000 euros for the loss of promissory notes and bills; and 63,000 euros for the prescription of an invoice of 63,000 euros to the City Council of Arrecife.
The businessman stated that he was for eight years with personal measures and prohibition of disposing of his assets for being investigated in the Unión case. The situation led him to "the loss of his way of life as a builder and real estate developer", as well as incurring debts with Social Security and being evicted from his home for non-payment.
The Chamber resolves that "-whether or not it is a criminal process- may produce concern, annoyance and even consequences of very different nature to the defendant or the accused, but it is not possible to pretend that, without more, this should give rise to extracontractual responsibility of the Administration."
In addition, it adds that "there is no abnormal functioning per se and in its case they are the result of resolutions that have not been declared erroneous by the established route for it."
Finally, after rejecting his appeal. The Provincial Court has condemned Ramón Vizcaíno to the payment of the procedural costs. The plaintiff has 30 days from the date of the judicial ruling to appeal through a cassation appeal.