The Supreme Court has confirmed the ruling of the Stratvs Case by which the businessman Juan Francisco Rosa and the rest of the defendants were acquitted. It has dismissed the appeal filed by the Prosecutor's Office against the ruling of the Sixth Section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas of December 4, 2020.
To decline the appeal of the Public Prosecutor, the Supreme Court relies on the fact that the proven facts of the ruling do not describe that the urban actions carried out on the property could determine its "categorization as buildings in urban terms." It was also not proven that the house or the winery increased in surface area or that the latter was built entirely below ground level.
The Court considered that the construction of some bathrooms, paving of a terrace, flattening of part of the land to be used for parking and the assembly of a kitchen are "accessory elements" to the winery. In this way, we would not be talking about crimes against land management, but "at most mere urban irregularities."
In response to the appeal on cassation, the Supreme Court insists that it was not proven that the rehabilitation of the property, "carried out under the license granted," was entirely a new construction.
As will be recalled, the Prosecutor's Office was asking for 15 years in prison for the businessman, as well as the demolition of the facilities, while the popular accusation exercised by Urban Transparency raised the request for Rosa to 21 years in prison. However, the Court acquitted the businessman of all the crimes he was accused of, as well as his company BTL Lanzarote, owner of the winery.
Specifically, in its ruling, the court acquitted Juan Francisco Rosa of the continued crime of forgery in a public document committed by individuals, the crime of usurpation of real estate, the crime against land management, the crime against historical heritage, the crime against the environment, the continued crime of qualified fraud, the crime of theft, and the crime of influence peddling of which he was accused. As for the company BTL Lanzarote, it was acquitted of the crimes of usurpation, against land management, against historical heritage and against the environment.
The architect of the winery and owner of a part of the land on which it was built, Miguel Ángel Armas Matallana, was also acquitted of the continued crime of forgery in a public document committed by individuals, the crime of usurpation of real estate, the crime against land management, the crime against historical heritage, the crime against the environment and the continued crime of qualified fraud of which he was accused. For him, the Prosecutor's Office requested the second highest penalty, specifically 10 years in prison.
Likewise, the Sixth Section of the Court acquitted the two technicians of the Government of the Canary Islands who gave the license for the construction of Stratvs, Faustino García Márquez and Armando Villavicencio Delgado, and the then Director General of Urban Planning, Juan César Muñoz, who were accused of a crime of urban prevarication. In this case, the Prosecutor's Office requested fines and disqualification penalties for the three.
The former mayor of Yaiza, José Francisco Reyes, the former Councilor for Urban Planning, José Antonio Rodríguez -who was also accused of a crime against the environment-, and the surveyor of the Technical Office of Yaiza, Pablo Carrasco, who were also acquitted, were also accused of urban prevarication.
Likewise, the Sixth Section of the Court acquitted the former secretary of Yaiza, Vicente Bartolomé Fuentes, who was accused of fraud against the public administration in competition with prevarication; and the employee of the Cadastre, Blas Noda, who was accused of a crime of forgery in a public document.
The former manager of the Insular Water Council, José Juan Hernández Duchemín, who was accused of environmental prevarication, has also been acquitted.
Only those convicted by Stratvs
The only ones convicted by the winery are the former mayor of Yaiza, Gladys Acuña, the former councilors Juan Lorenzo Tavío, José Antonio Rodríguez, Leonardo Rodríguez, and Evaristo García and the former mayor José Francisco Reyes, the technician Andrés Morales and the former secretary, Vicente Bartolomé Fuentes.
In the case of Acuña, she was sentenced to 14 years of disqualification and to pay a fine of 10,800 euros for a crime against land management in its form of urban prevarication, having granted the activity license to the Stratvs winery knowing of its illegality, and another of prevarication by omission, for not having adopted measures for the closure of the facilities, which had nothing to do with what had been authorized.
