The shadow of payments for services not rendered or for "inflated" invoices in the Arrecife City Council, which reaches Urbaser and many other companies, has also led to the investigation of a cousin of the former mayoress, María Isabel Déniz de León. According to a report by the Central Operative Unit (UCO), included in the summary of the Unión case, Ángel Ramón Tejera de León invoiced the City Council for more than 325,000 euros through two companies in just two years, when Déniz was in charge of the Mayor's Office.
Specifically, the UCO report indicates that in 2005, Lanzelot Pintura y Decoraciones S.L. invoiced the City Council for 42,315 euros. The following year, the turnover of that same company soared to 211,465 euros. In addition, that same year 2006, the company Angranting SA Unipersonal, managed by Isabel Déniz's cousin, invoiced the City Council for another 75,516 euros.
The UCO tracked these payments as part of the investigation into the assets of María Isabel Déniz, which skyrocketed during her time as mayoress, and also by comparing the notes in the diaries of the former manager of Urbaser, Jacinto Álvarez, who for years noted the alleged bribes he paid to public officials and civil servants, and also other alleged criminal acts related to third parties.
"He is her front man"
In those diaries that the UCO seized, "there are notes referring to the payment of fictitious invoices for services not rendered to the Arrecife City Council, by companies of the mayoress's cousin". This is what the agents state in their report, in which they cite some of those notes.
In one of the diaries, Jacinto Álvarez referred to Ángel Ramón Tejera stating that "he has a company that does work (invoices) for the City Council without the consent of the technicians and the depositary is rejecting the invoices because they are illegal and he has threatened them with taking them to the Prosecutor's Office". Shortly after, Jacinto Álvarez made a new note, stating that the then head of the Technical Office, Rafael Arrocha, had finally signed an invoice to pay, through a third company, to Ángel Ramón Tejera. "Arrocha signs it to save his cousin and save herself", the manager of Urbaser noted in his notebooks.
Like these, other notes are repeated over two years. In one of them, Jacinto Álvarez reiterates that "a cousin who does work for the City Council has paid him a number of fictitious invoices". In another, he assures that "Arrocha says that the mayoress's cousin "Mon" (nickname by which his acquaintances refer to Ángel Ramón Tejera de León) is her front man and invoices whatever he wants".
A Mercedes for María Isabel Déniz
The report on the assets of María Isabel Déniz, who during her years as mayoress acquired two homes, almost a dozen vehicles, two boats, jewelry and works of art, also includes the purchase of a Mercedes-Benz. And although this car is not in the name of the former mayoress or her husband, "in reality it is used in fact" by them, according to the UCO. And the one who paid several installments of that car was precisely Déniz's cousin.
The acquisition of that Mercedes dates back to 2008, when a company bought it for 25,500 euros. However, four months later, this company began to receive payments from Ángel de Ramón Tejera de León, who paid several installments of the car, with deliveries of between 2,000 and 4,000 euros. In total, he made four deposits in five months: two of them in his name and two others in the name of the companies Angranting SA Unipersonal and Lanzelot Pintura y Decoraciones.
However, the last deposit to the company that owns the vehicle was made by María Isabel Déniz's own husband. It was in December 2009 and he paid 10,000 euros in cash, without any withdrawal of money for that amount appearing in the family's accounts on those dates. The invoice for that last payment, according to the UCO, was made in the name of María Isabel Déniz.
Despite the various payments that were made during that year (in total 22,000 euros) and the fact that the vehicle was used by María Isabel Déniz, who even paid for the car insurance, the Mercedes is still in the name of the company that originally bought it.
The administrator of this company was called to testify as a witness by the UCO, and assured that the car is still in his name because the buyer still has to pay the amount of 3,500 euros. In other words, according to his testimony and the data collected by the UCO, he bought the car and sold it four months later for the same amount he had paid, although he assures that he is still owed one of the installments. And although Ángel Ramón Tejera de León "contributed 12,000 euros for the acquisition of the Mercedes", according to the UCO, the vehicle was actually always used by María Isabel Déniz and her husband.
