"The fright of the lawyer representing the Arrecife City Council is truly dramatic for the interests of the citizens." This was stated by the vice president of the Urban Transparency association, Luis Guirao, who is acting as the popular accusation in the piece of the Unión case that should begin to be judged within two weeks and in which the Consistory, which has just been left without a lawyer, is present as a private prosecution.
In addition, Guirao has warned that not only this resignation of the City Council's lawyer, Irán de León, could cause a delay in the trial, but that other attempts by the accused to delay the hearing are also continuing, which has been delayed since May 2018 and has already been postponed twice at the request of Dimas Martín and Juan Francisco Rosa.
"The accused in this matter suffer from obvious stage fright. They are really afraid of facing justice. The fear that they did not have to allegedly commit crimes is the fear they have to face justice", said Luis Guirao, who denounces that "the attempts to modify the dates of the trial are daily" by lawyers of the defenses and even witnesses. "Every day there are new events, a new request," he points out. In fact, he recalls that Dimas had just made a last attempt - by now changing his lawyer and asking for a postponement of the trial - and regrets that this has also been added to what happened with the Arrecife lawyer.
"Represents the citizens, not the governing group"
"The fright of the lawyer who represents all the citizens of Arrecife is still not understood, because let's not forget that he represents the interests of the citizens, not the current governing group," stressed the vice president of Urban Transparency, emphasizing that what is at stake is recovering the allegedly embezzled money. In addition, he also questioned the lack of activity that the Consistory's defense has had in the procedure.
According to Guirao, that role was limited to appearing in the case in 2015 and then adhering to the prosecutor's indictment, "without taking into account that they had the possibility of doing their own expert reports, because those claimed by the prosecutor are relatively contained, and surely the City Council, reviewing its own papers, could have asked for much more." "But they have done nothing. Appear, adhere to the prosecutor's request for penalties, except asking for the exculpation of Juan Francisco Rosa, and finally, 15 days before the trial, four years after appearing, give the fright and say that he is not going to exercise the representation of the citizens," he reproaches the lawyer.
"Attacks" and "mercenaries of communication to discredit"
"In this piece, practically everyone sang. The documentary evidence is brutal, the reports of the experts are brutal, and they know that facing this before a court of justice is not going to be as easy as they thought, entrusting themselves to the Virgen de los Volcanes," Guirao stressed, who believes that this is where the "panic" of the accused lies and their attempts to delay the trial, which in principle should begin on February 1.
In addition, he believes that this is what has marked the actions of the accused since the outbreak of the Unión case. "Everything they have done has never been to defend themselves," stressed the vice president of Urban Transparency, recalling that they first dedicated themselves to "attacking judges, prosecutors and police" and that they "even hired mercenaries of communication to discredit" the people who were investigating and working to put an end to that corruption.
"A hand that rocks all the cradles" in Lanzarote
In this regard, he wanted to send a message to the citizens, recalling the damage that this corruption causes to society and the damage it has caused in particular to Lanzarote, where he says that there has been an "excessive corruption, with a hand that rocks all the cradles and that everyone knows".
"The flow of corruption has been so brutal that in the end it is what impoverishes us. We are not aware, but the victims are always the citizens. The crisis of our health system, of our education system, which although they try to deny it are in absolute crisis, is fundamentally due to the flows of corruption," he stressed.
And according to Urban Transparency, that corruption led "to bankruptcy, to the technical bankruptcy of Yaiza and Teguise, is about to do so with Arrecife, despite having money, and it is likely that in the future it will also produce it in the Cabildo".
"Every time a work is contracted corruptly, the one who is contracted multiplies his profit by ten and also has to take money for bribes and kickbacks," he pointed out as an example of what it means, insisting that "citizens have to be aware" of this and also appealing to the "possibility of regulating these flows of corruption with our votes".
