After four years of investigations, listening to all the accused and taking into account the evidence they provided in their defense, and receiving the testimonies of experts and Seprona agents, the Court of Instruction has found serious indications of criminality on the part of the mayor of Yaiza, José Francisco Reyes, sufficient to put him in the dock instead of shelving the case being investigated in relation to a bar restaurant located in the southern town.
Thus, the Court of Instruction No. 3 of Arrecife has issued, in the abbreviated procedure 23/2006, the order of prosecution against Reyes, for the alleged crime of urban planning prevarication, for having granted the licenses and authorizations for the execution of works of renovation and extension of a house and its transformation into a bar restaurant, despite being on land classified and categorized as rustic for territorial protection.
The case, which La Voz already reported in its edition of July 7, has already passed through the stage of preliminary proceedings, after which the judge has decreed the order of opening for oral trial, and the provisional conclusions of both the Prosecutor's Office and the defense have already been formulated.
The facts have their origin in the municipal license granted by José Francisco Reyes on January 10, 2005 authorizing José Eugenio Camacho to change the use and works of repair and extension of the house located at Calle García Escamez, 23 in the town of Yaiza, to dedicate it to a bar restaurant, according to a project drafted by the architect Nicolás Betancort Pérez.
These works, once started, were reported to the City Council by residents of the area, aware that the property is located on protected rustic land, but in the face of these complaints, the City Council presided over by Reyes not only did not stop the works, but also granted the licenses authorizing them, despite the fact that both the secretary of the City Council and the municipal building surveyor "informed the mayor that the works were being carried out on land classified as rustic for environmental protection and even as a landscape reserve area in the old General Plan of Yaiza", according to the accusation of the Public Prosecutor.
Faced with this, the facts were reported to Seprona, whose agents verified the completion of the works, made the corresponding report and brought it to the attention of the court on duty, with which all the proceedings were initiated, and the investigating judge, appreciating the existence of rational indications of criminality in these facts, decided to prosecute the mayor.
Breach of legal obligations
The Public Prosecutor considers that José Francisco Reyes, at the time of granting the licenses and authorizations for the extension and renovation of the house on General García Escámez Street, 23 in Yaiza, and its use as a bar restaurant, "knew initially or subsequently that, regardless of the license he granted to the promoter to carry out a classified activity, the execution of the works of renovation and extension of the property, being works to be carried out on rustic land for territorial protection, required the Island Council of Lanzarote to approve the territorial classification before granting the corresponding municipal building permit to the promoter".
Therefore, "breaching his legal obligation to prohibit the works from starting or his legal obligation to order the suspension of the works already started, José Francisco Reyes, as mayor of Yaiza, consented to the execution of the aforementioned works", since "the execution of the works being close to completion and knowing that said works had not obtained territorial classification from the Cabildo, José Francisco Reyes signed a decree of the Mayor's Office by which he granted the municipal building permit to José Eugenio Camacho", the Prosecutor's Office points out in its provisional conclusions.
These facts constitute, according to that accusation, a criminal offense of urban planning prevarication, for which it asks that Reyes be sentenced to the penalty of special disqualification from employment or public office for a period of ten years, and a fine of 24 months, at a rate of 36 euros per day.
