The first round of statements by the five defendants in the seizure of the Montaña Roja desalination plant has concluded, leaving important questions and, above all, evident contradictions in the testimonies of those involved. Especially between the president, Pedro San Ginés, and the lawyer Ignacio Calatayud, who even denied his personal friendship with San Ginés. So far, no one admits to having even drafted San Ginés' resolution ordering the seizure (the president stated before the judge that he did not draft it) and neither to have given the "instructions" during the material execution of the seizure. "I don't know", "I don't remember" and "I wasn't the one" have been some of the most repeated expressions. And these are some of the main contradictions and unanswered questions.
- The resolution that "no one" drafted
On September 17, 2014, Pedro San Ginés signed a resolution to open a sanctioning file against Club Lanzarote. Furthermore, in that same resolution, he ordered the seizure of the Montaña Roja desalination and treatment plant as a precautionary measure while the file was being resolved. Until that moment, there was no prior resolution or report proposing or endorsing the seizure (the only thing that had been proposed was to open that sanctioning file).
Before the judge, San Ginés stated that he signed the resolution ordering the seizure but did not draft it, because he "never prepares the resolutions" he signs. And although he could not explain "for certain" who drafted it, he stated that "it could have been the manager of the Council (José Juan Hernández Duchemín), the secretary (Pancho Perdomo) or the external lawyer himself (Ignacio Calatayud)". "Or perhaps the three participated", added San Ginés.
However, during their statement in the Courts, the three people alluded to by the president (all of them accused in the case) denied having prepared that resolution. "I had nothing to do with the drafting", declared the secretary, while Calatayud also denied having been the drafter. For his part, Hernández Duchemín stressed that he "did not propose specific measures to be adopted" and that this "was in the hands of the president". He even added that San Ginés did not even "consult him on the precautionary measures that should be adopted". Thus, after the statement of these four defendants, no one has assumed authorship of the drafting of the resolution that ordered the seizure of the desalination plant, which was executed just the following day.
- Did someone tell San Ginés that prior reports were not necessary?
Another contradiction between San Ginés' statement and those of the secretary and the lawyer Ignacio Calatayud revolves around the absence of prior written reports endorsing the seizure. According to the president, he did not ask for them because the secretary told him "that a written report was not required to adopt the resolution". Furthermore, he added that "the advisors" also told him (that is, Ignacio Calatayud, who, together with Perdomo, was the only jurist the president consulted). However, both the secretary and the external lawyer stated that they had not been asked about this issue.
"No one consulted me on whether a prior written legal report was necessary for the seizure", Calatayud declared before the judge. For his part, the secretary also "does not remember" having been consulted on this issue by the president. "I don't think he asked me", the secretary responded. Furthermore, Pancho Perdomo downplayed his "verbal advice" to San Ginés, stressing that they only held a brief meeting in which they talked about the issue and that he did not believe that "with his advice he was forming the will of the president", since he "had his private advisors". Specifically, the secretary referred to Ignacio Calatayud.
- The mystery of who 'commanded' in the taking of possession
Another of the questions that has been reiterated during the interrogations and that has remained unanswered is who gave the instructions and orders during the material execution of the seizure. According to San Ginés, he "did not decide the specific moment, nor the form, nor the people who should carry out the taking of possession". For their part, those who went to Montaña Roja on behalf of the Council (the Cauces watchman José Juan Hernández Méndez) and the Consortium (the manager, Domingo Pérez Callero) assure that they limited themselves to drawing up a report and carrying out an inventory, respectively.
The only thing that has become clear after the statements in the Courts is that it was Canal Gestión who called the locksmith, because this was confirmed by the company's manager, Gerardo Díaz. However, Díaz did not specify who asked him to call that locksmith and no one assumes having given him the order to break the padlock. For his part, the lawyer Ignacio Calatayud, present at the seizure, "assumes" that "the order to call the locksmith would be given by the president of the Council (Pedro San Ginés) or the mayor (Gladys Acuña), who are the ones who can give the orders" and decide "how to enter".
- Calatayud contradicted San Ginés: "He did know that he works for Canal"
"I do not know if the external lawyer Ignacio Calatayud was at that time also a legal advisor to Canal Gestión Lanzarote". That was what San Ginés responded when the judge raised this question for the first time. And the president answered the same thing later to the press and even to the opposition during a Plenary Session of the Cabildo. However, it was Calatayud himself who contradicted him. "Everyone knew that I worked for Canal Gestión Lanzarote", the lawyer declared before the judge, clarifying that Pedro San Ginés "knew it too". "I never hid it", affirmed the lawyer, who advised the president on the seizure and, at the same time, was a lawyer for the company to which the plants were handed over (the lawyer charged Canal Gestión alone 116,000 euros in less than two years).
- A "great friend" who denied his friendship with San Ginés
Although the friendship between Pedro San Ginés and Ignacio Calatayud is well known on the island and San Ginés has never denied it, Calatayud did so in the Courts. "I have no personal relationship with the president, the relationship is professional, as with many other clients", assured the lawyer. According to him, he "talks to his clients" and "gets along better with some than with others", but with San Ginés "the relationship is professional and is based on the professional".
Calatayud's statement contrasts with what San Ginés himself published a little over a year ago, in October 2014, on his Facebook page, on the occasion of the birthday of Ignacio Calatayud and his brother, Carlos Calatayud, who also charged Canal Gestión for advising the Consortium. "Congratulations on their birthdays to the Calatayud brothers, great friends and professionals. Blessed be the hour when life crossed them in my path", the president published that day.
In addition to the key role that Calatayud played in the seizure (he was present in all phases of the process, from the prior conversations with Club Lanzarote to the execution of the measure, and also prepared the only legal report that, "a posteriori", endorsed the seizure), the Court is also gathering information on how this lawyer was contracted from the public administration, who advised San Ginés while working in turn for the company that took over the plants, Canal Gestión.
- They spoke on the phone, but he didn't know he was there
With respect to Calatayud's participation in the seizure, San Ginés not only denied knowing that the lawyer also worked for Canal Gestión, but even maintained that the lawyer did not go to Montaña Roja when the taking of possession of the plants was executed, despite the fact that the report that was drawn up that day (and that was shown to San Ginés in the Courts after hearing his response) reflects that he was there. "I seem to remember that he did not go. I am aware of the presence of the manager of the Consortium and the Local Police", affirmed the president, who also "did not remember" having spoken on the phone with Calatayud while the seizure was being carried out.
However, the lawyer did confirm both his presence in Montaña Roja and his conversations with San Ginés. According to his statement, he was "in contact with the president of the Island Water Council during the material act of the seizure" and "spoke with him" by telephone to inform him "of what was happening".
- Neither Calatayud himself nor the secretary knows how this lawyer was contracted
In addition to investigating alleged crimes in the seizure, the Court has also requested information on the way in which Ignacio Calatayud was contracted to act as an "external advisor" on this issue. The lawyer himself declared before the judge that he "does not know the procedures that the administration carried out when it made the assignment", although "the normal thing is that the administration processes", and he only knew how to say that it was Pedro San Ginés who "verbally" asked him for the report.
Neither could the secretary of the Cabildo, Pancho Perdomo, explain how Calatayud was contracted. "I do not know how the processing of the contracting file was carried out", declared Perdomo, who affirmed that this issue does not "correspond" to him. "It corresponds in any case, if it is a minor contract, to the Intervention of the funds of the Island Water Council and to the president of the Island Water Council himself", added the secretary. According to what he pointed out, in a minor contract only the expense proposal and the invoice are required, "without the need for contracts", and this "can be done directly by the president", Pedro San Ginés.
Regarding why an external lawyer was used instead of a jurist from the Corporation, Perdomo affirmed that "the opening of any file is not necessary to justify that the legal advice is provided by an external advisor" instead, for example, of the secretary. "What is requested on occasions", he added, "is a report on whether the Cabildo has lawyers to carry out a legal report or (if it is necessary that) an external contracting is carried out", something that in this case there is no record that it was done.
Regarding how Calatayud's report was delivered, the lawyer himself affirms that he does not remember and that he "probably took it by hand". The secretary, for his part, declared that the lawyer sent his report "by email to the president and the president took it to him by hand". "It does not have an entry stamp, the president gave it to me directly", Perdomo nuanced.
Afterwards, according to Calatayud's statement, he "issued an invoice for the precautionary phase of the procedure" (according to his statement, he was "commissioned to carry out a contentious-administrative procedure for the seizure") "and specifically for the written drafting of the report and some further consultation". It should be remembered that the written report was commissioned and prepared after the seizure but, according to San Ginés, Calatayud had already conveyed that same advice to him previously verbally.
