The Court of Instruction Number 2 of Arrecife has begun to review the passports of the former mayor of Yaiza, José Francisco Reyes, his wife and three of his children, to find out about the trips they have made abroad in recent years.
This Tuesday, the ex-mayor's wife, Antonia Torres Perdomo, who is also accused in the money laundering case, had to go to the Courts to hand over her document to the judicial secretary, who had to record the countries to which she has traveled and the dates of entry and exit.
This complies with one of the latest proceedings ordered by the judge at the request of the prosecutor, Ignacio Stampa, who requested that this data be collected to continue with the investigation, within the framework of the case opened for the alleged plot for the granting of illegal licenses in Playa Blanca.
In addition to the passport of Reyes, his wife and his children María Beatriz, María Noelia and Francisco Abel Reyes, who were arrested together with the former mayor a year ago, and are currently charged with money laundering, the document of a sixth person has also been required. This is José Sergio Martín Cañadillas, who was recently summoned as a witness in this case. All of them are having to show their passports, "both valid and expired", to the judicial secretary.
Tracking abroad
The objective of this new procedure would be related to tracking the economic movements made by the family of José Francisco Reyes in recent years. So far, the investigation carried out by the specialized unit of the National Police has found expenses worth almost one million euros, of allegedly illicit origin. All of them, corresponding to income in accounts or cash payments for homes, cars, a jacuzzi, a yacht and even trips, without being able to justify the origin of that money. But despite the sums found to date, the search continues, because the investigators consider that the family's assets could be much greater.
Now, the investigation intends to track all the trips made by the family, and the objective could be not only to know those expenses, but also to follow the trail of the economic movements that they could have made in other countries. And it is that for some time, it has also been investigated whether Reyes and his family took money abroad or to tax havens. And one of the countries where they have been tracked is Argentina.
In his statement after being arrested on September 30, 2009, Reyes was asked by both the judge and the prosecutor about his trips to that country. In this regard, the former mayor stated that he was there on two occasions. One "many years ago to a tourism fair", and another "three or four years ago".
According to the former mayor of Yaiza, he traveled to Argentina with his cousin, Andrés Rodríguez, and "with another gentleman from Tenerife", and "they went to see many farms that some people from here had bought". However, he assures that "he did not buy or have anything there", because "that is very far from his family".
Also one of his daughters, Noelia Reyes, was questioned about this, responding that "she is not the owner of any movable or immovable property, nor is she part of the administrative bodies nor does she own financial products in the Argentine Republic".