The Criminal Court Number 3 of Arrecife has once again changed the dates for the trial for the seizure of the Montaña Roja desalination plant, which was supposed to have started in March and will finally be delayed until June. Thus, it will be on June 8, 9, 15 and 16 when the former president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, will be in the dock accused of crimes of malfeasance, together with the former manager of the Insular Water Council, José Juan Hernández Duchemín, and the former secretary of the Corporation, Francisco Perdomo.
Initially, the first hearing was set to begin this trial on March 16, although it was later postponed to March 23 at the request of Hernández Duchemín, because some of the dates coincided with the Stratvs trial, in which he is also accused. However, the new calendar still coincided with a day of that trial, so this new change has finally been approved, postponing it until June.
The popular accusation, exercised by the former councilors of Podemos Carlos Meca and Pablo Ramírez, asks for 12 years of disqualification for the three accused. According to the indictment, the seizure of the Montaña Roja desalination plant was carried out because it was "the only way that responded to the whim of Mr. San Ginés and his desire to benefit Canal Gestión Lanzarote above respect for current legality and private property", since he snatched those plants from Club Lanzarote to illegally hand them over to the Madrid-based company.
"Benefiting" Canal with the advice of Calatayud
In addition, the letter recalls that this is not the first time that San Ginés has been accused of "benefiting" Canal. The Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands also ordered a review of the awarding of the contract by which Canal de Isabel II took over the management of water on the island, considering it proven that the specifications were altered to benefit this Madrid-based company.
Both in that award of the contract and later in the seizure of the desalination plant, the lawyer Ignacio Calatayud intervened, who charged as an advisor to Canal Gestión while also advising San Ginés. In his case, he was also charged in the case, although the proceedings against him were filed by an order issued by the now former judge of the Provincial Court Salvador Alba, who was soon after convicted of serious crimes in the exercise of his office.
That order from Alba, in addition, was decisive for the Prosecutor's Office to withdraw from the procedure, since it understood that if it could not formulate an accusation against the one who was pointed out as the "ideologue" of the seizure, it could not do so against the rest either. However, the case continues with the popular accusation, which had the endorsement of both the Public Prosecutor's Office and the investigating judge to take the procedure to trial.
