The Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Las Palmas has "categorically" opposed the request of the former mayor of Yaiza, José Francisco Reyes, who asked for the suspension of the execution of the six-year prison sentence imposed on him in the Yate case. "We are facing a mayor who holds the not insignificant demerit of having three firm criminal convictions for urban planning prevarication subsequent to the events described in this procedure," says prosecutor Javier Ródenas in response to Reyes' defense.
"A mayor who has been proven to have disposed of the municipal will at will in order to make resolutions in the urban planning field, even amassing a significant fortune at the expense of the general interest of the municipality," adds the writing, which recalls that in this case it was considered proven that Reyes granted dozens of illegal licenses for his "personal profit", "at the cost of negotiating with the land assets", charging bribes from different businessmen for the granting of these permits. And to this is added the criminal record that the former mayor already has.
"What is intended is that someone convicted of multiple criminal acts associated with public corruption, who does not even meet the ordinary requirements to enjoy the benefit of the suspension of the execution of the custodial sentence, can take refuge in the exceptional nature of article 80.3 of the Penal Code," adds the Prosecutor's Office.
"Not designed for those convicted of corruption"
That article of the Penal Code allows "exceptionally" the fulfillment of some prison sentences to be suspended, even if they are longer than two years in prison, in cases in which there is a conviction for several crimes and none exceeds two years in prison in isolation. However, the law sets very specific criteria for this. "This provision is not designed to prevent the imprisonment of those convicted of corruption in events as varied and serious as those that cause this execution," emphasizes the Prosecutor's Office, which recalls that, among others, he was convicted of bribery, embezzlement, money laundering and urban planning prevarication.
Thus, he asks that the execution of the sentence continue, as the Provincial Court had already agreed in an order dated March 22. However, although that order ordered Reyes' imprisonment, it also indicated that the former mayor had requested that the execution of the sentence be suspended. For this reason, in parallel, the Court agreed to request reports from the accusations, so that they could rule on the convenience or not of estimating that request. And now that pronouncement from the Prosecutor's Office has arrived, flatly opposing what was requested by Reyes' defense.
"Whoever has made the exercise of his position as mayor of the municipality of Yaiza, habitually, a departure from the law that was required of him, cannot avail himself of the aforementioned exceptional benefit," emphasizes prosecutor Javier Ródenas, who considers that this would mean "rewarding illegality", which does not coincide with "the principle of action" of the Public Prosecutor's Office.
"We are facing a repeat offender who has been convicted in firm criminal judgments for crimes of urban planning prevarication on at least three occasions," recalls the Prosecutor's Office, pointing out that to request this "undeserved benefit", Reyes cannot hide behind the "distance with respect to which the facts declared proven firm in criminal judgment fall". Furthermore, he recalls that this "distance" to which the former mayor's defense had appealed "already operated as a corrective factor of the penalty to be imposed". And it is that in the conviction an important reduction was applied both for this and for other mitigating factors, such as undue delays, confession and "reparation of the damage", since Reyes paid 300,000 euros before the trial as civil liability.
A "plus of responsibility" for using a public office "to commit crimes"
In addition to appealing to the "distance" of the events that were judged, Reyes' defense also referred to the "serious situation of economic hardship" that he claims the former mayor is going through and to his state of health. To this end, he provided two medical reports, one from October 2017 and another from 2010, which detail pathologies that he began to suffer almost 40 years ago, linked to problems in the veins and arteries of his arms and legs.
However, the Prosecutor's Office considers that "the personal circumstances of the convicted person, in view of his extensive criminal record", and "the nature of the multiple criminal acts for which he has been convicted" in this case, "categorically prevent the benefit sought by the defense of the convicted person", who "profited at the cost of negotiating with the assets of the urban land that he was obliged to ensure its rational use".
In addition, he emphasizes that a "plus of responsibility" must be demanded of those who have held a public office and have "used it to commit crimes and not to serve the office with objectivity and full submission to the law and to the law, as was their constitutional obligation". And that "demand" considers that "it cannot be relaxed in the essential process of the execution of the sentences". "It does not seem logical from an optics - even of merit - that we are facing a public servant who deserves to enjoy said benefit because his actions contradict the spirit and purpose of the norm," he insists.