The "seriousness of the crimes" he confessed to in the Yate case and the other convictions he already has behind him have led the Prosecutor's Office to request that the former secretary of the Yaiza City Council, Vicente Bartolomé Fuentes, be imprisoned to serve the sentence imposed on him in this case, despite the fact that it does not exceed two years in prison. "The perception of impunity in the crimes of prevarication exists and that perception is magnified if the convicted person evades the prison sentence in a bureaucratic automatism", states the document presented by prosecutor Javier Ródenas.
In this regard, the prosecutor recalls that suspending the execution of a sentence, even if it is less than two years in prison, is something "exceptional". And although the "minimum legal requirements" are met, that is not enough and other parameters must be "assessed", such as personal history, the crime committed and the effort to repair the damage caused.
In the case of the former secretary of Yaiza, he recalls, among other things, that he already has a final conviction of disqualification for urban planning prevarication, which was what removed him from his position, in addition to another conviction in the first instance for the same crime, which is pending appeal to the Supreme Court. In addition, there is another final judgment from February 2015 "for a crime of refusing to submit to alcohol detection tests", according to the Prosecutor's Office document.
"His mission was to prevent the urban whims of the mayor"
Regarding the Yate case, Vicente Bartolomé Fuentes himself accepted a sentence of one year in prison and 10 years of disqualification and confessed to having committed a crime of prevarication by reporting in favor of the Playa Blanca Partial Plan and the Marina Rubicón marina, since he was aware that they were illegal. And he also acknowledged having contributed to embezzling public funds from the City Council, by having allowed the former mayor's private trips to be paid for with money from the Yaiza City Council.
For this reason, the Prosecutor's Office requests that the request of his defense be rejected, which has asked the Provincial Court to suspend the execution of the prison sentence for being less than two years.
"We understand that in the present case and in view of the seriousness of the crimes committed, it is obligatory not to renounce the function of general prevention that the sentence fulfills", underlines the Prosecutor's Office, which highlights the "exemplary and coercive function aimed at society in general" that its fulfillment implies. "Especially when it comes to a public servant whose main mission as secretary of the Municipal Corporation of Yaiza was to prevent the abuse of power and the urban whims of the then mayor", he underlines.
He ignored the warnings of the Cabildo
In this regard, the prosecutor recalls that "for a prolonged period of more than six years", José Francisco Reyes carried out a "massive granting of urban planning licenses to hotel establishments in contravention of the urban planning regulations that he was obliged to observe and enforce", with the connivance of the municipal secretary.
In addition, he recalls that the Cabildo repeatedly warned the City Council that the regulated procedure for granting these permits was being violated. A procedure that was "omitted", despite the fact that the secretary's obligation was to "control its scrupulous compliance".
To this, the prosecutor adds that "a plus of responsibility must be demanded from those who have held public office used to commit crimes and not to serve the office with objectivity and full submission to the law and the law, as was their constitutional obligation." For this reason, he concludes that his request to suspend the execution of the sentence cannot be accepted. "An automatic concession would empty a discretionary power of content to turn an exception into a rule", he warns.
The other seven convicts could avoid prison
Along with Vicente Bartolomé Fuentes, the Prosecutor's Office has also requested the imprisonment of José Francisco Reyes. In the case of the former mayor, his sentence is six years in prison but he asked to take advantage of an exceptional suspension of the sentence, which the Public Prosecutor's Office has also opposed.
As for the other seven convicts in this case, the Prosecutor's Office has accepted that the entry into prison be suspended. Among them are Reyes' wife and three children, who accepted a sentence of 5 and a half months in prison for a crime of money laundering, and three other people who helped Reyes launder bribe money through shell companies: Benito Mesa Ferrer, Simeón Camacho and Antonio Marcelo Machín.
They all also confessed to the crimes and accepted sentences of between 5 months and 5 and a half months in prison, although in this case they will be able to avoid serving them. However, in all cases the final decision will be in the hands of the Second Section of the Provincial Court, which was the one that handed down the sentence.
