The trial against a couple accused of corporate crimes and document forgery has been adjourned for sentencing this Thursday, with a request from the Prosecutor's Office for 4 years in prison for F.C.A. and another 4 for E.C.R.H. That request rises to 5 years in prison by the private prosecution, exercised by the one who was his partner in the company Taller Clavijo Lanzarote S.L, which they allegedly ended up appropriating.
In addition, the Prosecutor's Office asks that the accused be imposed two fines for a total of 43,200 euros, while for her it requests one of 21,600 euros; as well as that they compensate the one who was their partner "for the stolen invoicing and for the damages caused." The private prosecution estimates that civil liability at 381,909 euros.
During the trial, the two defendants have refused to answer questions from the private prosecution, although they have answered their own lawyers to defend their innocence.
For its part, the Public Prosecutor's Office has maintained in its final conclusions the accusation against both, considering that the facts have been proven in the trial. As the Prosecutor's Office stated in its qualification brief, F.C.A. was a joint administrator and "sole de facto" of the entity Taller Clavijo Lanzarote S.L. and acted "with a clear intention to harm the interests of this company and the other partner", with the "intention of obtaining an illicit benefit".
A promissory note with an allegedly forged signature
Firstly, the prosecutor points out that "since July 2013, without any justification, knowing its illegality and despite continuous requests to do so, he constantly prevented him from accessing all accounting information, even prohibiting him from entering the local workshop of the social business, which made it impossible for the other partner and joint administrator to legitimately exercise his rights to information and control of the social activity".
As a result, the prosecutor argues that his partner and complainant in this case refused to sign the promissory notes for the activity, "due to ignorance against his will of the progress of the business." Then, he argues that F.C.A. forged his signature on a promissory note in favor of a supplier, for a value of 5,617 euros, and that he did so in collusion with the other defendant, who was his partner and employee of the company.
The prosecutor for Economic Crimes, Tomás Fernández de Páiz, emphasized in the indictment that it was "a spurious promissory note, as it contained, without his knowledge or consent, a similar imitation of the necessary signature of the other joint administrator".
They opened a new workshop in another nearby location
In addition, he added that "since mid-October 2013", the two defendants "ceased the activity of the company, abandoning the usual premises and succeeded it without interruption in another nearby establishment". All this "without the knowledge or consent of the other partner and to the detriment of the entity Taller Clavijo Lanzarote, S.L. and for their corresponding exclusive benefit".
To do this, according to the Prosecutor's Office, "they used both the machines, tools and spare parts as well as the clients, suppliers and workers" of the previous company, which were subrogated, "thus consummating the deliberate impossibility of the latter to continue with its activity and the evident and consequent financial loss for its partner".
"From that moment on, they invoiced vehicle workshop services in the name of the accused", who for this purpose registered as self-employed, according to the indictment, which puts the invoicing of the workshop from January 1, 2013 to July 31, 2013 at 195,909 euros plus 13,076 euros of IGIC.
He is accused of two corporate crimes and another of forgery in a commercial document, while she must answer for the alleged crime of document forgery and a corporate crime as a necessary cooperator.
The trial has been held before the Criminal Court of Arrecife and the magistrate has not allowed access to the press or photographers, appealing to health reasons due to the dimensions of the room, which she considers did not allow guaranteeing security against Covid-19.
