The prosecutor Ignacio Stampa will become part of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office in Madrid. His appointment was approved this Tuesday and in the coming weeks he must leave the island to join his new position as reinforcement prosecutor in this Special Prosecutor's Office, which fights against Corruption and Organized Crime throughout Spain. The position had been put out to tender and means that he will be assigned on a commission basis, initially temporarily, although it could later be extended.
Stampa, who is from Madrid, had been practicing on the island for twelve years. And during that time, he has led the investigation of the main corruption cases opened in Lanzarote. The first was the Yate case, for the massive granting of illegal licenses in Playa Blanca, but afterwards many more were added, including the beginning of the Unión case and then the Stratvs case and the Monte Carlo case.
When he had been on the island for four years, Ignacio Stampa was assigned to the Environmental Section of the Prosecutor's Office, reporting directly to the provincial head of that section. "It was my designation. Among the colleagues who were there, he seemed to me the most suitable person to handle those matters," the head of the Las Palmas Prosecutor's Office, Guillermo García-Panasco, told La Voz at the time, referring to the "capacity" that Stampa, who was then 34 years old, had "demonstrated".
From environment to economic crimes
Since then, in addition to taking charge of cases related to environmental crimes in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, Ignacio Stampa also continued with the rest of the matters that came to the Arrecife Courts, including homicide cases. And he also assumed other corruption cases not linked to urban planning or environmental issues, but to economic crimes, such as the Monte Carlo case. And that is precisely the area in which he is now going to focus with exclusive dedication, when he joins the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.
In recent years, this special section of the Prosecutor's Office has had to be reinforced, given the proliferation of cases throughout Spain. Thus, in addition to having delegations in several communities, including the Canary Islands, the number of prosecutors assigned in Madrid has also been increasing, where Ignacio Stampa will now join as a reinforcement prosecutor. Among the most relevant cases assumed by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office in recent years are the Noos case, the Malaya case, the Gurtel case, the Pretoria case, the ERE case in Andalusia and Operation Púnica.
More than a decade in the Courts of Arrecife
In his first years in Lanzarote, which was his first destination as a prosecutor, Ignacio Stampa led several jury trials for crimes such as that of the Four Corners, that of La Rocar and that of Paz Peraza Street. In addition, he represented the Public Prosecutor's Office in the trial against the businessman Ramón Rodríguez for attempted homicide of his partner and in the case of the "coca sailboat". And he also brought charges against two national police officers from the Arrecife Police Station, who in 2008 were sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for illegally detaining a person of African origin and causing injuries.
Later, when he was assigned to the Environmental Section, the Yate case was boosted, which closed with a dozen defendants and is ready to go to trial, with a request for 25 years in prison for the former mayor, José Francisco Reyes, who even served provisional prison during the investigation of this case, in which he was arrested in September 2009.
At that time, the name of Ignacio Stampa was already known to many Lanzarote residents, since he was the prosecutor with whom the investigation of the Unión case began, which broke out in May 2009. Within that case, which was also joined by the anti-corruption prosecutor Luis del Río and the delegate of the Environment and Urban Planning section of Las Palmas, Javier Ródenas, Stampa remained in charge of two pieces. Among them, the one that was tried last year and already has a conviction against the four people who sat on the bench, for the embezzlement of more than 250,000 euros from the Arrecife City Council with payments to Proselan for work that had not even been carried out. Among those convicted is the Arrecife auditor, Carlos Sáenz, who was sentenced to 5 years and 3 months in prison.
Accusation in Stratvs and Monte Carlo
In addition, Stampa has also been the prosecutor in the Stratvs case, where he has already filed charges against 16 people, asking for up to 15 years in prison for the main defendant, the businessman Juan Francisco Rosa. And also from the Monte Carlo case, where the investigation of the three pieces that remained open has just been closed and now he must present the indictments.
In the fourth piece of Monte Carlo, focused on San Bartolomé, the investigation was closed in December and the following day the indictment was presented, in which the prosecutor asked for between 5 and 12 years in prison for the five defendants, for the alleged embezzlement of 470,000 euros, both with payments for services not provided and for the "excessive" fees charged by the auditor, Carlos Sáenz, for his work in this municipality.
Among other cases, Ignacio Stampa also brought charges in the trial against the businessman Miguel Morales, for the construction of the Hormiconsa crusher without a license and on protected land. Morales was sentenced to a penalty of 1 year and 8 months in prison and to pay a fine of 67,500 euros for a crime against land management and another of serious disobedience to the authority. In addition, the sentence ordered the demolition of the warehouses, the concrete plant and the crusher.
More recently, Stampa represented the Prosecutor's Office in the trial against the Lanzarote businessman and rally driver Óliver Rodríguez, who last March was sentenced to 4 years in prison for a crime of theft of goods of historical value and another against land management, in conjunction with one more of damage against historical heritage. In addition, Óliver Rodríguez must pay compensation of 1 million euros to the owners of the property where he caused the damage, "La Casa de Los Carrasco", and 11,440 euros more for the objects he stole from its interior.
As for the corruption cases that are pending trial and that were in charge of Stampa, almost all are already closed and with indictments presented. The only ones missing are those of the Monte Carlo case, but they should be presented in the next few days, according to the deadline set by the judge last week. What this transfer would mean is that Ignacio Stampa could not be present at the trials when the date of their celebration arrives, unless he is authorized to do so from his new destination.
