The Court of First Instance and Instruction Number 2 of Arrecife already has a new judge, Leticia Esther Mateo Requena, who will replace María Dolores García Benítez. Mateo Requera, who comes from the Criminal Court Number 5 of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, will now have to take charge of the "Reyes" case investigation and will begin this week to take statements from new defendants in the case, by virtue of the summonses that had been issued by the previous magistrate.
Leticia Esther Mateo Requera will assume the position of substitute judge, that is, she will not have a permanent position. Despite this, she could be in charge of the Court of Instruction Number 2 for an indefinite period of time, until a competition for positions is announced.
The judge will have to face one of the most important cases of alleged urban corruption that are being investigated on the island, for the alleged plot for the granting of illegal licenses in Playa Blanca. The investigation began four years ago and so far there are about thirty defendants among politicians, technicians, businessmen and relatives of the former mayor of Yaiza, José Francisco Reyes.
First statements
This week, the new judge will begin to take statements from the Basque businessmen who were the last to join the list of defendants. Their summons occurred after [a witness reported last April->38499] that the former mayor of Yaiza, José Francisco Reyes, would have received half a million euros from these businessmen in exchange for licenses in Playa Blanca. According to this witness, one of them "was an expert in payments abroad, accounts in Switzerland and tax havens".
The [Basque businessmen->38605] are Ricardo Sánchez Armendáriz, the complainant's partner in the Atalaya apartments in Puerto del Carmen, and José Ramón Olaberría. In addition, according to the witness before the judge, the alleged intermediary for the payment of half a million euros was Félix Leceta. Now, they will have to testify this week before the new judge and the prosecutor Ignacio Stampa.
An important sentence
Although Judge Leticia Esther Mateo Requera has arrived in Lanzarote from her previous destination in Gran Canaria, the truth is that she had already been in the Courts of Arrecife a few years ago.
In her professional career, the sentence she issued last May stands out, in which she sentenced Miguel Ángel Ramírez Alonso, president of Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, to three years and one day in prison for a crime against land management. According to the ruling, Ramírez promoted several illegal works in La Milagrosa.
RELATED NEWS
[One of the Basque businessmen from Playa Blanca "was an expert in payments abroad, accounts in Switzerland and tax havens"->38598]
[The witness in the case against Reyes says he received threats from the businessmen he has denounced->38522]
[A witness declares that Reyes charged 500,000 euros from a businessman for licenses in the Playa Blanca Partial Plan->38499]
