Court number 8 of Arrecife is investigating "a case of municipal corruption of great quantitative importance, both for the economic amount of the benefits that could have been obtained and for the also important number of people involved", according to a document from the Prosecutor's Office that ACN Press has learned about.
The public prosecutor, in proceedings completed in May 2007, noted the possibility that continued crimes of fraud and forgery of public documents were being committed, but also the possible commission of bribery or influence peddling.
The events date back to 2002, although the Prosecutor's Office proceedings were initiated on September 4, 2006, following a complaint by former mayor María Isabel Déniz (CC) regarding irregularities in the management of the cadastre. The complaint is based on a report commissioned by the mayor herself to Cristina Fernández, head of the income department. In turn, the report was prompted by the public complaint of the Altavista football club, as they were disputing the ownership of a plot of land that belonged to them.
In summary, and according to the Prosecutor's Office document, the facts are as follows: It would be a plot dedicated to acquiring urban properties in Arrecife, changing their owner both in the cadastre (granting fictitious cadastral references) and in the Land Registry, subsequently making illegal segregations, applying boundaries that do not coincide with reality, requesting the corresponding municipal license and selling them to a third party.
All this, allegedly, with the necessary collaboration of City Council officials. It so happens that the buyers and sellers of the land are always the same.
ALTERATION OF THE CADASTRE
The affected properties are in the Maneje neighborhood, in the area called Cercado Viejo. These are undeveloped lands that appear with "unknown" owner in the cadastre base, "which does not mean that they do not have an owner", the Prosecutor's Office highlights.
In addition to the changes in ownership, multiple segregations are made but the parent property always continues with the same dimensions. These segregation requests are always requested "to the same person in the City Council", according to the municipal report, and are written by hand and unsigned.
NOTARY
These segregations would be the basis for carrying out urban operations.
The sales are not only made between the same people or companies, but both the segregation licenses and the constitution of these companies are carried out in the notary's office of Carmen Martínez Socias, of whom the Prosecutor's Office points out that she has an attitude "little or not rigorous".
The document analyzes four particular cases, which have reached the courts claiming their property. Some have finished and others reached an out-of-court settlement. Up to 53 property movements have been detected and the Prosecutor's Office points out that these cases "are only a minimal part of all those that have occurred or may still be occurring".
THE SAME PROTAGONISTS
The selling party is always the same: Mercedes Cabrera Sastre or heirs of Cabrera Sastre, while the buyer is always Lucía Medina Tavío, who is the one who requests the segregations, or a construction company (Piconca, Volcán de la Lapa, Mayreb or others). Among the administrators of some of these companies are Segundo Martín Cibantos, Raquel Inmaculada Martín Rebolo or Teresa Tavío Robayna, mother of Lucía Medina.
The prosecutor requests the indictment, at least, of Lucía Medina and Mercedes Cabrera and points out that, within the City Council, "the data point to the primary participation of Dulce Carmona, Mr. Morera, Martín Robayna, Jesús Morales and Miguel Bethencourt", but points out that there are also indications against other officials "because the investigated facts have been known for a long time and were consented to for a long time".
The document also cites the former Councilor for Urban Planning, Nuria Cabrera, expelled from the PSOE, who participated in a meeting between those affected. Likewise, it is requested that the participation of the notary Carmen Martínez Socias be clarified, "whose action is little or not rigorous and it will have to be clarified at least if she could have incurred in civil or disciplinary liability, if not criminal, because it is coincident that every movement carried out by Lucía Medina is through her [de Martínez Socias]".
The Arrecife Prosecutor's Office took a statement from the signatory of the report-complaint, Cristina Fernández, niece of the former City Council secretary, Felipe Fernández Camero. In addition, she requested information on the properties and companies involved, requested data from the City Council and the territorial Management of the Cadastre, which provided hardly anything, and took statements from four of those affected.
ACN Press