The Cabildo has paid 1,098 euros for the hotel in which the president, Pedro San Ginés, stayed during his controversial trip to South Africa to accompany a group of firefighters to a championship. This has been acknowledged by San Ginés himself in the Plenary held this Thursday, during an interpellation requested by the Podemos group, which has recalled that it has been demanding for three months to know "how much that pleasure trip" of the president cost the people of Lanzarote.
"I don't think you insist that, as the firefighters asked you, you were forced to go so that the Cabildo would pay you everything they paid you," said the spokesman for Podemos, Carlos Meca, when again demanding explanations about the expenses of that trip. "It is false that I have been waiting for three months," San Ginés replied, assuring that in the last Plenary he already gave the hotel bill to the opposition. However, the truth is that he did not do it then nor has he done it this Thursday, although on this occasion he did say the amount that the Cabildo paid for his accommodation for six days, which means that the hotel cost 183 euros per night.
Thus, he has not revealed the name of the hotel in which he stayed, which is well above the average price in the South African city where he was, where there is a wide range of four-star hotels for less than 100 euros per night. As for the allowances, he has assured that the Cabildo will pay him 328 euros for the days he stayed in South Africa.
"I think I remember there was a group meal"
Although San Ginés has finally put a figure on some of the concepts of that trip, other unknowns have remained in his interpellation. And it is that, as the spokesman for Podemos has reminded him, the decree signed by the president to authorize his expenses stated that the Cabildo was also going to pay him "taxis or rental car" and "other expenses".
Regarding the first, San Ginés has assured that he will finally not charge it, but as for the "other expenses", he has avoided answering the questions. "I think I remember that there was a group meal, which I paid for and which is paid to me. A meal inviting the firefighters," he has limited himself to answering. Faced with this response, Meca insisted on asking how much that lunch cost, "knowing the hotels they usually go to" and "the little trips they take". "You are very spoiled," he questioned.
"I don't know, I don't remember how much it cost. There were eight or nine firefighters, so you calculate," the president replied, who has defended that it was not his expense. "It was from the firefighters, it had nothing to do with my trip. Well, I also ate, but it was not an expense for me, it was an invitation to the firefighters," he alleged, while the spokesman for the purple formation insisted on knowing "how much money that lunch to which he so generously invited the firefighters has cost the Cabildo" and why they had not brought that data to the Plenary, despite knowing that this interpellation had been requested to know all the expenses that the president's trip entailed to the Cabildo.
"We are not going to waste time for 100 or 200 euros"
"I'm not sure if the Cabildo paid for it or the Consortium paid for it," San Ginés finally replied, questioning that he was being asked about this issue. And the councilor who presides over the Emergency Consortium, Juan Manuel Sosa, then spoke along the same lines, when the president turned to him asking him to "do the favor of finding out about that triviality".
"Since you entrust me with that, I am going to take care of it, but after having achieved the success that our firefighters achieved in a world championship, where they revalidated their qualification, I think that the least they deserved was an invitation from the Cabildo itself to a lunch, for God's sake. Let's not waste time, we are representatives of the people of Lanzarote to deal with other issues. We are not going to waste time in a Plenary for 100 or 200 euros," Sosa said.
It should be remembered that in another previous session, the councilor had pointed out that the Consortium had paid "26,000 or 27,000 euros" only for the firefighters' trip, apart from the president's expenses, which were borne by the Cabildo.
The parachute jump, in his "free time"
Regarding the parachute jump that he had time to do on that trip, and which transpired through some photos published by the company with which he carried out this activity, San Ginés has defended that he paid for it with his money. "Let's see if now it turns out that in my free time with my money I also have to give an account of what I do, whether in South Africa or in Pernambuco," he said. "Yes, I did it and I paid for it with my money. Is something wrong? Well, I had a great time," he added to try to end the debate.
Regarding his official activity during the six days he was in South Africa, the only thing he has explained so far is that he was going to accompany the team of firefighters who participated in an international competition on rescue of victims of traffic accidents. But about the specific activities in those days, during the Plenary this Thursday he has only referred to his attendance at the opening and closing ceremony of the championship, which also had an entrance fee that was paid by the Cabildo.
