José Francisco Reyes' defense requests his release

José Francisco Reyes' defense requests his release

[The former mayor's "underground economy" and potatoes->34311][Tracking in Argentina->34312][A history of criminal cases->31845]

December 14 2009 (19:45 WET)
José Francisco Reyes' defense requests his release
José Francisco Reyes' defense requests his release

The defense of the former mayor of Yaiza, José Francisco Reyes, has formally requested the judge to release him, now that he has served almost two and a half months in pre-trial detention. Reyes entered the Tahíche Penitentiary Center on October 4, four days after being arrested along with his wife and three of his children.

His lawyer's request comes after the former mayor of Yaiza and former vice president of the PNL retracted his initial confession before the judge, in which he admitted to receiving money from businessmen linked to the granting of illegal licenses in Playa Blanca.

Now, the magistrate of the Court of Instruction Number 2 of Arrecife, María Dolores García Benítez, will have to decide whether to accept the request or maintain the pre-trial detention for José Francisco Reyes, while the investigation of the case continues. Reyes is charged with bribery, urban planning malfeasance, embezzlement of funds, influence peddling and money laundering,

U-turn

José Francisco Reyes' change of strategy coincided with the hiring of a new lawyer for his defense, Pablo Luna, who also represents the former mayor of Marbella, Marisol Yagüe, in the Malaya case. Thus, on November 18, the former mayor of Yaiza returned to the Arrecife Courts at his own request and tried to convince the judge that he made up his initial confession because he was "under pressure" and because he believed that this would save his wife and children, who are charged with money laundering in this case, from prison.

In his initial statement on October 4, Reyes had implicated up to six people, being especially explicit when referring to the lawyer Ignacio Díaz de Aguilar and the businessman José Francisco Riquelme. Regarding the former, legal representative of Las Coloradas S.A., he stated that "he personally gave him cash", not "remembering the amount", but "possibly about seven or eight million pesetas", "so that the procedures" of that Partial Plan "would be expedited and done faster".

As for Riquelme, representative of Papagayo Arena S.L. and Explotaciones Hoteleras Nueva Valencia, Reyes had even stated before the judge that he gave him "cash". In addition, he pointed out that the payments were made after receiving the licenses, "in gratitude for the procedures that were carried out".

These two people, in addition to businessmen Simón Camacho, Marcelo Machín, Joaquín Cañada and José Rafael Mesa were charged after Reyes' statement, who is now trying to get the Justice to believe that he made up his statement "to save his family".

When asked if before changing his statement he had received visits in prison from lawyers of others charged in the case, he replied that yes, he received "several lawyers of others charged to talk about this". However, he immediately denied it on several occasions, claiming that he had not understood the question well. And by the way, he assured that no lawyer of another defendant asked him to change his statement, and that he modified it freely.

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