The Governing Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands requested the Government of the Canary Islands on April 14 to reinforce "urgently", with the appointment of an official, Investigating Court number four of Arrecife to face the investigation of "the complex corruption case" of San Ginés. This alleged plot affects the spokesperson for the Canarian Coalition in the Cabildo of Lanzarote and former president of the same body, Pedro San Ginés.
According to the Governing Chamber of the TSJC, this appointment must be "immediate" due to the complexity of the corruption case. It also highlighted that "the appointment of reinforcements in these cases cannot be subject to the pre-established calendar of meetings of the sectoral negotiation table for civil servant personnel, that is, every quarter, and emergency procedures must be used in which, without prejudice to the principle of hearing of the unions, an effective and immediate response is given to situations that do not admit delay".
The procedure investigates the alleged crimes of embezzlement, prevarication, money laundering and bribery, related to the millionaire payments received by the lawyer Ignacio Calatayud under the presidency of San Ginés. Among other points, the investigation focused on the house in which the former president resides, owned by Calatayud's father-in-law, the lawyer Felipe Fernández Camero, also investigated in one of the parts of the Unión case.
Change of Court
A year ago, the then instructor of the case Jerónimo Alonso had already requested reinforcements. At that time, he was granted the support of an official on a commission basis, but then it was not renewed by the Ministry of Public Administrations, Justice and Security of the Government of the Canary Islands, headed by Julio Pérez.
After an appeal filed by the defense of the investigated Ignacio Calatayud, the Provincial Court of Las Palmas decided to return the case to Judge Ricardo Fiestras, of Investigating Court number four of Arrecife. Calatayud's lawyer had requested the change of the presiding judge last March to the Court, considering that Alonso was not "competent" to investigate him, because those same payments were already under the magnifying glass of Judge Fiestras, who had dismissed the case in 2016.
Already with the case in the hands of Ricardo Fiestras and as stated in the minutes of the plenary session held in April of this year to which La Voz has had access, this Court requested that this official of the Management Body who had collaborated in the processing of the preliminary proceedings with Investigating Court number two be reappointed. In addition, the TSJC agreed to communicate the request for "urgent" reinforcement to the general director of the General Directorate of Relations with the Administration of Justice of the Government of the Canary Islands.
In this sense, he stressed that the cessation of reinforcement cannot be considered finalized, "in any case", without a prior report from the investigating magistrate.
The agreement of the Governing Chamber was sent to both Ricardo Fiestras, as investigating judge, and to the Support Unit for Corruption Cases (UACC) of the General Council of the Judiciary.
Mediator Case
As La Provincia has advanced, the Governing Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands has also requested the Government of the Canary Islands for an "immediate" reinforcement for the court of Tenerife that is investigating the well-known Mediator case. For the TSJC, both "complex" corruption cases require support in the framework of their investigation.