Coalición Canaria and the Partido Popular have requested the Cabildo de Lanzarote for an extraordinary plenary session to demand that the CEO of the Tourist Centers, Benjamin Perdomo, comply with the fee that must be paid to the Cabildo. At the same time, it insists that transparent information be given to all political groups on the current situation of the settlement of this fee.
The deputy spokesperson for Coalición Canaria, Pedro San Ginés, requested an exhaustive report from the Tax Agency at the end of last year on the non-payment of the fee. The nationalist group believes that the report has already been prepared and sent to the president, Dolores Corujo, and accuses her of withholding, "in all probability", that documentation. The group points to the current president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote for committing "yet another display of obscurantism and lack of transparency that has characterized her entire mandate".
Coalición Canaria assures that it will demonstrate the fraud of the alleged benefits of the Tourist Centers. At the same time, it insists that millions of euros have been owed to the Cabildo due to non-payment of the fee by the Centers for Art, Culture and Tourism (CACT). These centers are presided over by María Dolores Corujo herself. For its part, the nationalist party, relying on intervention reports, states that between 2004 and 2022 the Socialist Party has not paid any fee related to the tourist centers.
Pedro San Ginés affirms that "we know that they have deceived the Council, the Plenary and the citizens and there is a significant hidden and pending debt, due to non-compliance with the payment of the fee throughout the mandate, for which someone would have to take responsibility".
For his part, as is known, the CEO of the Entity, Benjamín Perdomo, has publicly stated that it is not true that the fee has not been paid, "because compensations are being made with the pending payment invoicing by the Cabildo, or any of its dependent entities". The nationalists are convinced that this is not only false but that it has been the Cabildo and its dependent entities (Emergency Consortium, SPEL or others) that have injected enormous sums into the Tourist Centers to mask their accounts.
Thus, the representative of CC-PNC in the Board of Directors, Samuel Martín, announces that "we have also requested both in writing and within the Board of Directors of the CACT, that all information on the orders or assignments of its dependent entities in this mandate be provided and made public, in addition to the information broken down by centers and by activities, as was given before and is now hidden, providing a simple forecast of income and expenses on a double-sided sheet" and adds that "we assume that the president this time, forced by the Regulations, will comply with the transparency to which she has been denying throughout the mandate".
Finally, the nationalist group emphasizes that what is intended is "that the plenary session be informed of what is happening with said fee and what the government's plans are in this regard", and they report that, in their request, they have requested the appearance of the head of the Tax Management Body and director of the Tax Network, and they question the Minister of Finance to explain and clarify the current situation of the settlement of the so-called CACT fee to the Cabildo of Lanzarote.
"We have no doubt that if they do not hide information, this extraordinary plenary session will demonstrate the fraud of the alleged benefits of the CACT", the party emphasizes in a statement.
