Chamber 77 of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands, constituted to decide on the recusal of magistrates (known as Chamber 77), has agreed to uphold the recusal filed by the Public Prosecutor's Office against the president of the Sixth Section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas (and of the Provincial Court in functions) Emilio Moya Valdés, and against the magistrate of the same section Carlos Vielba Escobar.
The upheld recusal removes them from a procedure that is being followed in the courts of the capital of Gran Canaria against the well-known businessman from Gran Canaria, Miguel Ángel Ramírez.
Chamber 77 has upheld the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office by appreciating a "close friendship" between the two magistrates and the investigated party. To reach this resolution, it has relied on the recordings delivered by the Prosecutor's Office, of conversations between Miguel Ángel Ramírez and the former magistrate of the Sixth Section of the Provincial Court, Salvador Alba Mesa, which led to his imprisonment and removal from the judicial career after being convicted.
Meanwhile, both Carlos Vielba and Emilio Moya opposed the recusal, alleging that the cause of the recusal is "manifestly untimely." The legal representation of Miguel Ángel Ramírez also expressed the same position.
In that conversation, a fragment appeared between Miguel Ángel Ramírez and the president of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas, Emilio Moya. The businessman described Emilio Moya as "a damn good friend of mine" in a conversation with Salvador Alba.
The Chamber resolves that "the conversation itself is striking given that it is spoken in a relaxed tone with a person who is under investigation, and is foreign to the judicial scope of judicial proceedings and specifically of a procedure that had an important media and social impact."
In this line, it reflects that "we can conclude that the tone of the conversations, the use of expressions of familiarity and cordiality exceed the norms of courtesy and enters into the existence of a close friendship and trust on both sides."
To conclude, the resolution states that "nor is there another explanation for the fact that a person foreign to the judicial sphere and with the condition of being investigated in a criminal process, accesses the office of the president of the Provincial Court without the presence of a lawyer, and even less that said visit is made to greet and maintain conversations with him regarding ongoing judicial proceedings.
Regarding magistrate Vielba Escobar, Chamber 77 adds that he offered to organize a meeting between businessman Miguel Ángel Ramírez and former judge Alba. "We can conclude that the relations maintained by Mr. Ramírez Alonso can be qualified as a relationship of close friendship and trust on both sides," he specifies.
Thus, he adds that if it were not so, it is not explained that Mr. Vielva Escobar, magistrate of the Sixth Section of the Provincial Court, mediates for a meeting to take place between Mr. Alba and Mr. Ramírez at the express request of the latter, and much less, taking into account the existing situation at that time, given that Mr. Alba was being investigated in a judicial proceeding, that the magistrate himself offered to attend that meeting."
