"The public opinion of Lanzarote, the Canary Islands, and a large part of Spain, given the enormous deployment of media coverage, will be eager to know if in the exhaustive search carried out in my home, perhaps, money, firearms, drugs, works of art, hidden accounts in tax havens, or in sight in any national or foreign bank, and in what quantities, or unjustified increase in my assets, were found. I must emphatically say that none of what has been expressed was found." With that mixture of irony and provocation, Dimas Martín expressed himself in one of the first letters he wrote from prison shortly after the first phase of the "Unión" case broke out, in which he tried to discredit the operation and even lashed out at the UCO agents, even accusing them of altering records.
Almost a year after that, the UCO has returned and has done so by putting documents on the table. Now, they have dealt a devastating blow to the essence of the PIL leader, gathering evidence that would demonstrate that Dimas Martín had become a millionaire in recent decades, thanks to allegedly criminal activities perpetrated from the institutions. And not only when he held public office, but also afterwards, even while in prison, through other PIL mayors, councilors, and advisors.
Therefore, the new phase of Operation "Unión", dubbed "Operation Jable", would be a definitive step in the accusations against Dimas Martín, who, among other crimes, was already charged in this case with bribery and illicit association (integrating an organized structure to commit crimes). Now, the UCO agents would have managed to locate the fortune allegedly amassed by Dimas Martín during these years, which would amount to at least 8.5 million euros (1,400 million of the old pesetas) and which would have been hidden from Justice through a network of companies.
The frontmen
To hide that alleged fortune, both because of its alleged illicit origin and to avoid a judicial embargo, since Dimas Martín declared himself insolvent to pay the 2.4 million euros that he had to return for the embezzled funds in the Agroindustrial Complex, the historical leader of the PIL would have had at least six collaborators, and all of them were arrested last week in this new phase of the "Unión" case.
One of them is his own daughter, Susana Martín. The others have been very personally or politically linked to Dimas for years. They are the current concierge of the Teguise City Council, Carlos Matías Curbelo Delgado; the businessman José Ramón Vizcaíno; and the businessman and rally driver Samuel Lemes. To them would be added two other people who reside in Andalusia. The owner of the Hoteles Playa group, José María Rossell, with interests in Costa Teguise and closely linked to the PIL and the media that this party had at the time, and a former executive of that same company, José Gonzalo Gil.
All of them would appear at the head of companies, as attorneys or administrators, allegedly dedicated to hiding the assets of Dimas Martín, which has been tracked for months by the UCO agents. In addition to fifty properties, including farms and real estate, these companies would also have had PIL media outlets at the time, such as El Maho magazine or Televolcán, when it was controlled by the Party of Independents of Lanzarote.
Immobilized properties
In recent months, the UCO agents have gone to different offices of the Land Registry, in search of the assets of the companies of the alleged frontmen of Dimas. Now, all the properties have been judicially seized and no type of operation can be carried out with them by order of Magistrate César Romero Pamparacuatro, while the investigation continues.
In addition to considering that there are alleged crimes of money laundering and punishable insolvency (for the latter, businessman Juan Francisco Rosa is also charged), the UCO and the Investigating Court Number 5 are also investigating other alleged criminal acts that could have linked these six people with Dimas Martín.
One of the detainees, the Teguise official Carlos Matías Curbelo, is already facing an indictment for bribery. Regarding the rest, an attempt is being made to determine why they did this alleged "favor" to the historical leader of the PIL and if, in addition to participating in these alleged crimes to hide his assets, they would have also received some other type of benefit from the institutions, through some public officials of the PIL also charged in the case.
