Dimas Martín's family home in the Yaiza area known as Los Rostros is part of the summary of Operation "Unión" not only because of the [illegal works that were being carried out on protected natural rural land->28725], but also because of the steps they took to try to legalize the house.
According to the UCO agents in one of their reports, the house was built between January 2002 and December 2003 and not before 2000, as reflected in the certificates from the Yaiza Town Hall provided by Dimas Martín's family to register the property in the Registry.
The orthophotos of the public company Grafcan leave no room for doubt. Before 2000, on that farm, inherited from his parents, there was only a cistern. The construction appears for the first time in the aerial photo of December 2003.
However, in September 2006, the head of the technical office of the Yaiza Town Hall, Antonio Lorenzo, issued a report stating that the construction is prior to May 2000. The report is based on another from the Local Police which, however, does not reflect any date and merely states that the house exists.
The antiquity of the house is also certified by a report from the accidental secretary of the Town Hall, Antonio Fernández, issued on the same day, which indicates the same date of construction. The Civil Guard considers that this date was chosen because on 8 May 2000 the Revised Text of the Laws on Territorial Planning and Natural Spaces of the Canary Islands came into force, which classified the land in the natural parks as protected natural rural land and therefore does not allow construction or earthworks. The property in question is located within the Volcanic Natural Park, a Special Bird Protection Area (SPA) and a Site of Community Importance (SCI).
The UCO agents point out that both Antonio Lorenzo and Antonio Fernández could have committed an alleged crime of falsifying a public document by issuing these municipal reports in 2006.
Valuation under suspicion
In addition, this property and another were put up as a mortgage guarantee for a personal loan from Leopoldo Cabrera Lasso to Dimas' son, Fabián Martín, for the value of 350,000 euros. In order to apply for the loan, a valuation report was needed, which was carried out by the quantity surveyor Juan Cristóbal Mederos, from the company Sivasa, in which it is stated that both the house and the cistern were built in 1986.
However, in contrast to the two certifications from the Town Hall and the valuation report, in January 2009 the municipal technical architect María Lahora issued a report at the request of Fabián Martín, which states that there is no documentation in that office regarding the construction of the house or its completion date. Martín needed this document to corroborate that there were no proceedings initiated against the house.
Transfer for 800 pesetas
Nor had any mention been made of the existence of the house in the registration made in the Land Registry in 2002, when Dimas Martín transferred the property to his wife, Elena Martín, for 800 pesetas.
In this regard, it should be recalled that one of the reasons that led the Provincial Court to withdraw the third degree from Dimas Martín for the Agroindustrial Complex case was that he had not paid the 2.4 million euros that he had to pay to restore the funds embezzled during his management. The court order also stated that "it should not be overlooked that in the open criminal proceedings there are several properties registered in the name of the inmate, whose embargo could not finally be specified as they were registered in the Land Registry in the names of third parties".
On this subject, in his last public appearance before returning to prison for this case, Dimas Martín assured that his insolvency was demonstrated in the Complex sentence and that the land named by the Las Palmas Court in its order was sold 30 years ago and that they are "rustic farms that have hardly any value".
In the case of the Los Rostros farm, the house has 87 square metres divided into a living room, dining room, pantry, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, two covered terraces and a cistern, and a declared value of 180,000 euros. In addition, last year, renovation work was started, consisting of making stone walls, roofing the living room and a swimming pool, which led to a complaint from Seprona, although the Town Hall did not stop the work.
After the visit of these agents and members of the Local Police of Yaiza to the farm, Dimas made several calls to family members and politicians to try to stop the work from being stopped. But at that moment, his phone was already tapped by the UCO and a new line of investigation was opened in Operation "Unión".
Imputations
In this procedure, the Civil Guard considers that crimes against territorial planning, falsification of a public document and an official document may have been committed. The UCO points to the accidental secretary Antonio Fernández, the head of the technical office, Antonio Lorenzo, the valuer Juan Cristóbal Mederos and Dimas' wife, Elena Martín, as the property was in her name since 2002.
On 8 October, Elena Martín already testified for this case at the Civil Guard barracks in Costa Teguise, where she was summoned by the UCO agents.
ACN Press / LA VOZ Editorial Team
