The Las Palmas Prosecutor's Office has received a complaint against the company that provides the rental service for hammocks, umbrellas and sports equipment on Flamingo beach, in Yaiza, for doing so "without due authorization from the seasonal services", according to the complaint to which La Voz has had access. The complainant has decided to bring the facts to the attention of the Prosecutor's Office, given the "total inactivity and lack of concern" that he claims has been shown by the General Directorate of Coasts and the Yaiza City Council, which acknowledged in a letter on May 3 that the company had "no authorization of any kind" and did not pay a fee to the City Council.
The City Council has assured La Voz that this company had a permit to replace sand in 2010 in exchange for the seasonal operation of this beach. However, this permit only lasted 9 months, according to the same sources. The Directorate of Coasts in the Canary Islands has indicated that there is "an ongoing file" against this company for exploiting this service, although they did not want to provide more details.
The complaint was filed with the Prosecutor's Office on October 29 and also extends to an administrator of this company. The complainant considers that these facts could constitute alleged crimes of bribery, fraud and illegal exaction.In the complaint, he explains that this company has provided the service on Flamingo beach, installing material "in the public domain without having the mandatory administrative permits for elements such as hammocks and umbrellas for rent to tourists and bathers, as well as the operation of a kiosk or beach bar".
The complainant assures that he has "reliable evidence of the fact that this service had not been tendered or awarded this year." Therefore, he decided to submit to the entry registry of the Department of Mobile Park, Gardens and Cleaning of the Yaiza City Council and the Coastal Demarcation in the Canary Islands two letters to find out what had happened with this procedure.
Letters to Yaiza and Costas
In these letters, the complainant explained that the Official Gazette of the Province published in December 2012 an agreement adopted by the Local Government Board of the Yaiza City Council, which established an "open procedure" for granting authorization for the operation of this tourist service on Flamingo beach. Although this municipal agreement was dated November 30, 2012, the complainant states in his letter that as of July 1, 2013, he was not aware that the seasonal service had been awarded.
He even assured that he had not been granted "the mandatory authorization by the Coastal Demarcation in the Canary Islands", in addition to the fact that he was unaware that a company was "benefiting from the operation." In these letters, the complainant asked Costas and the Yaiza City Council to clarify the situation of the service on Flamingo beach, since it could involve "an action contrary to the legal system." Specifically, he asked Costas for information on who had been granted the service authorization and access to the administrative file.
"Informal consent of some official"
The complainant also assures that the Yaiza City Council responded to one of his requests and indicated that the Local Police had confirmed that there were "hammocks, umbrellas and a kiosk-bar without any kind of authorization carrying out an operation and without payment of a fee", so it was going to request Costas to require its operators "without title to leave the beach in its original state."
However, the complainant maintains that this requirement "has not had any effect at the moment", since the company complained about "continues to exploit the public domain without any type of restrictions, generating significant income".
Therefore, he believes that the company that operates this service "does so with the informal consent" of some member of the administrations involved, and asks the Prosecutor's Office to investigate.
"Serious indications of the presence of spurious interests"
In this way, he states in the complaint filed with the Prosecutor's Office "the passivity with which the Coastal Directorate has acted and is acting." The complainant considers that in this case "not only has the legally established procedure been disregarded to proceed with the exploitation of a public domain asset such as beaches, but also, there are serious indications of the presence of spurious interests that may constitute criminal offenses and not merely administrative ones."
And he insists that the company complained about and its administrator "exploit an asset protected by the coverage of the notorious inactivity of a certain official, the bureaucratic apparatus of the State and the Local Administration", which has the competence to tender exploitations such as this one. In this case, "not even the corresponding administrative file has been initiated in order to verify and, if applicable, sanction the people who, without title and in a totally irregular and consented manner, exploit the land of everyone", he assures, despite the fact that Costas maintains that there is an open file.
The complainant also asks the Prosecutor's Office to carry out a series of diligences such as requesting the administrative file from the Yaiza City Council regarding the announcement to tender the service, as well as to report the data of the official or officials who are carrying out this type of procedure and the report made by the Local Police on this exploitation.
He also intends that the Coastal Directorate in the Canary Islands be required to send all the documentation to the Prosecutor's Office and to report the reasons why, "despite having been requested by the Yaiza City Council to investigate the irregularities that have occurred regarding the exploitation of Playa Flamingo, nothing has been done, allowing a third party to exploit the public domain without complying with the legal provisions established for this purpose."
