The trial of the last piece of the Unión case, Operación Jable, which remains to be judged, will be held in September, as planned. This has been confirmed by judicial sources to La Voz de Lanzarote. The case, which dates back to the beginning of the 21st century, is based on the alleged rigging of the public tender by which the then Arrecife City Council awarded Urbaser the garbage contract and FCC the construction of the Argana pavilion.
On April 19, the Second Section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas suspended all sessions of the Jable trial scheduled for April and May, pending a forensic doctor reviewing the health situation of one of the main defendants, the former mayor of Arrecife Isabel Déniz.
At that time, the Chamber reported that Isabel Déniz would be reviewed by the forensic doctors in June. At that time, Déniz's defense had submitted a brief the week before the start of the hearing to request its suspension. The defendant claimed to be experiencing post-operative problems.
As of yesterday, Thursday, June 29, no change in the appointment had been notified. Thus, the trial will resume on September 11 and will have sessions until the 22nd of that same month.
Operation Jable
Operation Jable, named by the Central Operative Unit (UCO) that investigated the case, is the most complex judicial case in the Canary Islands in terms of volume and extension. It arises from the irregularities found in the tenders to the company Urbaser for the garbage and cleaning contract of the Arrecife City Council during the term of Mayor Isabel Déniz (2001-2007). In addition, the award to Fomento Construcciones y Contratas (FCC) of the construction of the Argana Alta pavilion.
Within the framework of this case, Isabel Déniz faces the alleged authorship of the continued crimes of prevarication and bribery, as well as illicit association, for which she could reach 13 years in prison.
11 other people remain accused in the case, after the Public Prosecutor's Office withdrew the accusation against five defendants last Monday: Enrique Astorga, Manuel Jesús Isidro Spínola, Julio Romero, Daniel Hernández Caraballo and Rafael Antonio Corujo.
Among them, the historical leader of the Party of Independents of Lanzarote (PIL), Dímas Martín, the former head of the Technical Office of the Arrecife City Council Juan Rafael Arrocha and the former secretary of the corporation, Felipe Fernández Camero, remain under investigation. In addition, former senior officials of Urbaser, a former leader of FCC, the former socialist secretary Miguel Ángel Leal, as well as the partners of Déniz and Martín as participants for lucrative purposes.
The former senior official of the company Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC) Enrique Hernández Martín has acknowledged the bribes in the framework of the Jable case. The accused of an alleged crime of bribery has acknowledged having "gifted" the former mayor of Arrecife, between 2001 and 2007, Isabel Déniz, in exchange for the award of the construction of the Argana Alta sports hall.
So far and before the start of the hearing, two senior officials of Urbaser Manuel de Andrés Martínez and Santiago Alonso Herrero confessed to having bribed the then mayor of Arrecife to obtain the cleaning and garbage contract of the capital. After them, a former senior official of the company Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC) Enrique Hernández Martín acknowledged the bribes in the framework of the Jable case. According to his version, he would have "gifted" Déniz as mayor of Arrecife in exchange for awarding him the construction of the Argana Alta sports hall.