The Prosecutor's Office has requested that the appeal filed by the president of the Canary Islands Government, Fernando Clavijo, against the order of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands that decided to return the Grúas case to the Court of Instruction of La Laguna, be dismissed. In addition, the prosecutor points out that this appeal should not even have been admitted for processing, noting that the TSJC has made a "generous interpretation" of the Law to give it course despite the fact that Clavijo "does not have the status of a procedural party" so far.
It was the Court of Instruction itself that referred the case to the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands last August, understanding that Clavijo should be charged in the proceedings. However, before it could rule, the new Statute of Autonomy of the Canary Islands came into force, which eliminates immunities. Thus, following the criteria of the Prosecutor's Office, the TSJC decided to return the case to the investigating Court, in an order that is the one that the president has appealed.
In its report opposing this appeal, the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands emphasizes that the TSJC had not even assumed jurisdiction over the case yet. "Until that happens, there is no procedural effect, no expectation of right, and much less retroactivity to maintain a right that has not been born, because there has never been a judicial resolution that agreed to initiate a criminal procedure to investigate and know the criminal conduct reported," he points out in his writing, signed by prosecutor Demetrio Pintado Marrero.
A "historically novel" case
In addition, it also refers to how "historically novel" this case is, as the Statute of Autonomy was modified while the jurisdiction of this case was being decided, and recalls the dissenting vote issued by the president of the TSJC, against the criteria of the other two magistrates of the court, which was the one that prevailed.
In any case, the Prosecutor's Office maintains its position and refers to Clavijo as "without jurisdiction" after that reform, so it opposes his claim that the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands assume this case and decide on his "fate." Thus, the decision would be in the hands of the Court of Instruction, which has already made it clear that it sees indications to investigate Clavijo for alleged crimes of embezzlement and prevarication during his time as Councilor for Security and later Mayor of La Laguna, related to the municipal crane service and the alleged preferential treatment that the awarded company would have received.
