The former mayor of Yaiza and vice president of the PNL, José Francisco Reyes, confessed during his statement before the judge of the Court of Instruction Number 2 of Arrecife, María Dolores García Benítez, and the prosecutor Ignacio Stampa, to having received money from businessmen, linked to the granting of illegal licenses in Playa Blanca. That is one of the forceful pieces of information that is confirmed after the magistrate decided to lift the secrecy of the case this Tuesday.
Reyes, who testified last Sunday, October 4, after spending four days in detention, even pointed out several names of businessmen who would have "helped" him, and who will now be summoned by the judge as defendants. Some, allegedly, for paying bribes (bribery). Others, for making payments "in kind", in the form of different benefits or gifts.
During his statement, the former mayor of Yaiza had to answer, among other things, for expenses of more than 700,000 euros made by him and his family, concentrated mainly in about three or four years, and whose origin could not be justified, according to the report made by the Udyco after tracing the assets of Reyes and his environment. And in the face of the evidence of this data, Reyes would have decided to start collaborating, at least partially, with the investigation.
A hotel surrounded by controversy
Among the data he provided in his statement, and which is now part of the summary of the case, José Francisco Reyes expressly referred to the license of the Papagayo Arena hotel, indicating that the company responsible for this controversial establishment had asked him to "speed up" the procedures and give "legality" to the project.
The Papagayo Arena hotel, with capacity for 747 tourist beds, raised its 12 floors in the front line of Las Coloradas Beach, relying on two urban planning licenses granted by the mayor of Yaiza in plots 1 and 2 of the Las Coloradas Plan, which were contrary to territorial and urban planning, and which were later annulled by the Justice.
The Cabildo of Lanzarote has always maintained that the case of the Papagayo Arena Hotel "is the most serious example of illegal construction from a legal point of view." In fact, the Island Corporation itself denied, through a resolution of the Presidency dated August 16, 2005, the license to open and operate the establishment, due to the multiple irregularities and anomalies observed, although despite everything the hotel is operating.
Other licenses under suspicion
In addition to the names he cited, and among which there would also be a businessman and lawyer linked to partial plans of Playa Blanca, Reyes admitted that he could have charged for other licenses granted during his term, although in that first interrogation before the judge after his arrest, he refused to give more names.
The former mayor of Yaiza, who is accused of bribery, urban planning prevarication, embezzlement of funds, influence peddling and money laundering, entered the Tahíche prison after his statement in court and, until further order from the judge, will remain in pre-trial detention.
Meanwhile, the case remains open and pending new statements. And although the magistrate has decided to lift the secrecy of the summary, the investigation will continue its course.
Three years of investigation
The investigation has been open for more than three years, and aims to get to the bottom of the reasons that led José Francisco Reyes to grant some 30 building permits and extensions of others that had expired between 1998 and 2003, going against the Island Plan of Lanzarote, the reports of the Cabildo and even the reports of the technicians of the City Council. Some, even, were granted on the same day they were requested.
Until now, the lawyer Felipe Fernández Camero, the secretary of the City Council, Vicente Bartolomé Fuentes, and Pablo Carrasco Cabrera, from the Technical Office of the City Council of Yaiza, in addition to Reyes himself, were charged in the case.