The case opened for the alleged plot for the granting of illegal licenses in Playa Blanca has a new defendant, Benito Mesa Ferrer, who will have to answer for an alleged crime of money laundering. As stated at the time by the former mayor of Yaiza, José Francisco Reyes, Mesa Ferrer "processed the papers" for the creation of the company Sea Sun Lanzarote, which was in the name of Reyes' son.
According to the investigation, that company was one of the tools used to launder the allegedly illicit money obtained by the former mayor of Yaiza with the granting of illegal licenses. Among other things, the company has a boat in its name, "El Pachi", which would have been acquired by José Francisco Reyes himself for 127,000 euros, which were paid in cash, in several installments, without the family having been able to justify where they got the money from.
Subsequently, they requested a loan for 109,000 euros, but by then the boat was already paid for, so the investigation believes that the credit served, presumably, for a new money laundering.
In his statement before the judge, after being arrested last October 2009, Reyes also confirmed that he had once been "in an office located at 7 Valls de la Torre Street, to consult Benito Mesa about the constitution of an agricultural company." To the questions of the prosecution, he replied that "it is a coincidence that the companies that own Puerto Marina Rubicón are advised by the same advisory firm located at 7 Valls de la Torre Street." Behind the companies that constitute that marina are Juan Francisco Rosa, Rafael Lasso and Francisco Armas, linked to hotels with licenses declared illegal, and all of them are charged in this same case for alleged crimes of bribery.
Brother of another defendant
In addition, Benito Mesa is the brother of another of the people who appears as a defendant in the case, José Rafael Mesa Ferrer, of Gestión y Desarrollo Janubio S.L. According to Reyes declared in the Courts, his daughter Beatriz (also accused) lived in a house of Rafael Mesa without paying rent. To the questions of the judge and the prosecutor, he explained that the house is in a complex that Rafael Mesa made, and that he was the one who granted him the license to build them when he was mayor of Yaiza.
In his statement, he said that he himself "made the arrangements" with Mesa so that he would "leave" that house to his daughter and that "it was going to be to live for a short time", but that "it has been longer than expected." Regarding his relationship with Rafael Mesa, he defined him as "an acquaintance" and stated that with the Mesa Ferrer brothers he has a relationship of "distant kinship".
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