The former mayor of Yaiza, José Francisco Reyes, could be one of the first convicted in the Unión case. His defense, which is handled by Juana Fernández de las Heras (daughter of Felipe Fernández Camero), has changed its strategy and has shown its agreement with the latest indictment from the Prosecutor's Office in this piece. And with that, Reyes acknowledges that he committed malfeasance by authorizing the construction of the chalet of Carlos Morales and Alexia of Greece, and accepts a sentence of six months in prison and 12 years of disqualification from public employment or office.
Now, the Court must summon him and, if he reaffirms the agreement, a conviction will automatically be issued, without the need to hold the trial. In that sentence, the prosecutor Javier Ródenas also asks that the licenses that Reyes granted to the political cousin of the current King of Spain, Carlos Morales, be declared null and void, and that they were granted with negative technical reports, in an area where that house could not have been built.
During the investigation, Morales himself was charged with a crime against Land Management and another of inducing malfeasance in urban planning. The second was eventually dismissed, as there was no evidence to prove that alleged influence over Reyes to grant him illegal licenses. As for the first, the judge who was then investigating the case, María Jesús Hernández Elvira, also decided to dismiss it, understanding that Carlos Morales could have incurred an administrative infraction, but not a crime. It should be remembered that the new General Plan of Yaiza reclassifies that land. Thus, although the sentence declares the house illegal, Carlos Morales could initiate the procedure to regularize it, requesting a new license under the General Plan in force.
A transcendental change for Unión
The decision to show his agreement with the indictment (as other defendants such as Fernando Becerra and José Miguel Rodríguez have done before) reaffirms the solidity of the case and contrasts with the attitude that Reyes' own lawyer has maintained until now, who represents other defendants in Unión and is also the daughter of one of the defendants, Felipe Fernández Camero. Until now, both she and Camero had based their defense strategy on seeking the nullity of the proceedings, alleging alleged irregularities in the investigation.
Fernández de las Heras did so even in the first trial of Unión, for the Rodríguez Batllori piece, where she represents one of the defendants. In the first session, held more than a month ago, she joined other lawyers in asking for the trial to be suspended and for evidence and even the entire case to be annulled, appealing to those alleged irregularities. However, the Provincial Court rejected those petitions and initiated the oral hearing, which has been held in several sessions and will end next Friday in Gran Canaria.
Meanwhile, in this other piece against Reyes, Juana Fernández de las Heras has decided that her defendant should accept a negotiation with the Prosecutor's Office and show his agreement with the accusation, in order to avoid the trial and try to reduce the sentence he could have faced. In total, the prosecutor initially asked for two years in prison for Reyes, but after the agreement reached, he agreed to reduce it to six months in prison, in addition to 12 years of disqualification from public employment or office.
In the agreement, the prosecutor Javier Ródenas makes it clear that if Reyes or his lawyer decided to back down when they are summoned by the judge to ratify this agreement, the trial would be held as planned, and with the initial request for two years in prison.
Will he go to prison?
Whether he was sentenced to six months in prison, or if he was imposed the maximum of two years provided for this crime, Reyes could avoid imprisonment, although the final decision will be made by the judge. And it is that although he already has a criminal record (he was convicted in another case for urban planning malfeasance), these are not computable for the purposes of this sentence, since the facts that are judged in this case (the granting of two illegal licenses between 2005 and 2006) are prior to the other conviction, which was issued in January 2010.
In any case, as happens in all sentences of less than two years and one day in prison, it will be the Court that must decide whether to suspend the execution of the sentence (which until now was the most frequent if there are no criminal records); or if the convicted person enters prison (as has happened, for example, in the case of Isabel Pantoja). And it is that the suspension of the sentence is not something that is applied automatically, but each case is analyzed individually. And in the case of Reyes, not only that previous conviction could weigh (although formally it is not computable), but also the cases that he still has pending with Justice.
In the largest, the Yate case, which is pending trial, the Prosecutor's Office is asking for 25 years in prison for him, for alleged crimes of bribery, urban planning malfeasance, money laundering, activities and negotiations prohibited to public officials, embezzlement of public funds and document forgery, all linked to the massive granting of illegal licenses in Playa Blanca. Along with him, among others, his wife and three of his children are charged, for alleged money laundering crimes.
"Fully aware of the illegality"
The facts that are being investigated in this piece, in which the Prosecutor's Office could achieve a conviction without even going to trial, date back to 2005. In July of that year, Carlos Morales asked the Yaiza City Council for a municipal building permit for a basic project, for the construction of a single-family home on Barranco del Agua street, located between the partial plans of Puerto Calero and Cortijo Viejo.
On December 5, 2006, according to the Prosecutor's Office, the then mayor signed a decree granting that license, despite being "fully aware of the illegality of its concession" and even had contrary reports, both from the secretary and from the surveyor of the Technical Office, who warned him. For all this, the prosecutor concludes that "the accused was perfectly aware and, even knowing of his manifest impossibility due to the lack of everything ordered by the urban planning regulations to be able to execute the construction of an isolated single-family home, did not hesitate to violate the urban planning regulations" and grant the license.
The same happened later with a second license granted by Reyes, already for the execution of the final project, which was also granted with negative technical reports, "ignoring the most elementary administrative procedural rules, violating the most basic rules of mandatory observance imposed by the applicable urban planning regulations, dispensing with the essential procedures in the granting of the license" and "without having the mandatory and binding report of compatibility with the PIOT to be issued by the Cabildo of Lanzarote", according to the Prosecutor's Office's indictment.
