The Investigating Court Number 2 of Arrecife wants to know who visited José Francisco Reyes during his stay in prison, given the suspicion that someone may have advised or pressured him to withdraw his confession. Now, the Tahíche Penitentiary Center will have to send the Court the information from the visitor log, to find out who met with the former mayor of Yaiza at the end of 2009. Specifically, in the time elapsed between his first statement before the judge after being arrested, in which he confessed to having received money from several businessmen in exchange for the granting of illegal licenses, and [his subsequent retraction->33487].
The diligence, authorized on September 10 by Judge María Dolores García Benítez (who has now passed the baton of this case to [the new judge of Court Number 2, Leticia Mateo->43948]), responds to a request from the prosecutor, Ignacio Stampa, who maintains that the change of statement did not benefit Reyes or his family, and believes that the lawyer of another defendant in the case may have visited him in prison and "influenced" him to change his testimony.
In fact, on the same day that he withdrew his confession before the judge, the former mayor admitted that "he had received several lawyers from other defendants in the penitentiary establishment to talk about this." However, he also retracted that later, arguing that at first he had not "understood well" the question.
In any case, the Prosecutor's Office rules out that this change of statement responded to a recommendation from his new lawyer. And the lawyer Pablo Luna, who was appointed by Reyes on November 2, 2009, visited him for the first time in prison on November 3 and, according to his own testimony, that same day the former mayor gave him a letter that he had already written, showing his willingness to testify again and retract. Luna is Reyes' third lawyer in this process, in which he began being represented by [Felipe Fernández Camero, who had to abandon his defense when he became a defendant in this case.->28663]
They knew it
In his writing, the prosecutor also maintains that some of the defendants knew in advance that the former mayor was going to retract. In fact, [one of Ignacio Díaz de Aguilar's brothers made some statements to La Voz de Lanzarote on November 4, 2009->32963], in which he anticipated this news, despite the fact that Reyes' writing to withdraw his confession had not even been registered yet in the Court. Even, Díaz de Aguilar advanced the reasons that the former mayor was going to allege, and that happened because he acted "under pressure."
The next day, effectively, José Francisco Reyes' lawyer presented a document in those terms in the Court, communicating his client's intention to change his statement. That same day, November 5, 2009, when the Court had not even taken cognizance of that document, four defendants presented writings almost simultaneously, according to the entry numbers in the Court registry, asking that the actions that were initiated against them after the accusations launched by the former mayor be filed.
In the case of Ignacio Díaz de Aguilar, his writing was dated a month before, on October 4, 2009. Curiously, the same day in which Reyes made his confession. That is, when the former mayor was arrested and the case and his confession, under summary secrecy.
The alleged plot continues
These and other elements lead investigators to think that at least many of the defendants are acting in a coordinated manner, with joint defense strategies and even with alleged attempts to obstruct the investigation, including the fact that several witnesses and defendants have not attended the judicial summons, delaying their appearance for months.
And the coordination between them would not be something new. In fact, the axis of the case focuses on the fact that, presumably, there was a real plot for the granting of illegal licenses in exchange for bribes. And within that alleged plot, the lawyer Felipe Fernández Camero would play a fundamental role, according to the Prosecutor's Office. On the one hand, as "inducer of the allegedly criminal conduct of the mayor of Yaiza." On the other, as a link between the majority of the defendants.
And it is that in addition to the fact that many of the accused businessmen share companies or economic ties, the figure of Fernández Camero also connects them with each other, and with the former mayor and the technicians accused in the process. In fact, almost all have been defended and advised, in administrative or criminal proceedings, by Fernández Camero or by colleagues from his office.
He has also been a lawyer for the secretary of the Yaiza City Council, Vicente Bartolomé Fuentes, and the municipal technician Pablo Carrasco. And in addition to advising and being a lawyer for the City Council in urban planning matters, his office has defended in court the interests of Juan Francisco Rosa, Francisco Armas, Rafael Lasso, José Francisco Riquelme and Ignacio Díaz de Aguilar, among others accused in the case.
Regarding the latter, the Prosecutor's Office report also highlights the relationship he maintained with Camero, through another lawyer, Ignacio Calatayud. Specifically, Calatayud worked in Díaz de Aguilar's office in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and, at the same time, is married to the daughter and office colleague of Felipe Fernández Camero, Juana Fernández de las Heras, who is in turn his lawyer in this case.
In addition, in the argument with which the investigation tries to maintain that the massive granting of illegal licenses in Playa Blanca was not accidental, it also points out the direct relationship that Reyes himself maintained with one of the names that are beginning to be repeated the most in the summary: Ignacio Díaz de Aguilar, promoter of the Las Coloradas partial plan. Specifically, it is highlighted that in January 2001, being mayor of Yaiza, José Francisco Reyes attended the presentation of Díaz de Aguilar's new office, when he partnered with two other firms. Despite the fact that the invitation was sent to him personally, the investigation maintains that the trip and the allowances were paid by the Yaiza City Council.
