THE COURT HAS REVOKED THE SUSPENSION OF THE EXECUTION OF HIS SENTENCE

The former mayor of Yaiza will enter prison to serve the sentence in the Union case

The Court has revoked the suspension of the execution of the sentence, accepting the prosecutor's arguments. Reyes must serve six months in prison for the license he granted to Carlos Morales...

May 21 2015 (13:36 WEST)
The former mayor of Yaiza will enter prison to serve the sentence in the Unión case
The former mayor of Yaiza will enter prison to serve the sentence in the Unión case

The former mayor of Yaiza, José Francisco Reyes, will have to go to prison. The Provincial Court of Las Palmas has revoked the suspension of the execution of his sentence for the Unión case. Thus, he will have to serve the six months in prison that were imposed on him in the sentence, for granting an illegal license for the house of Carlos Morales and Alexia of Greece.

Reyes himself accepted the penalty requested by the Prosecutor's Office, so after the agreement of conformity, the sentence was issued, which is already final, without the need to go to trial. As it is a penalty of less than two years in prison, the former mayor intended to avoid imprisonment, but prosecutor Javier Ródenas asked that he serve the sentence.

Initially, the Criminal Court Number 1 of Arrecife rejected this request and suspended the execution of the sentence, understanding that there was no "probability" that the former mayor would reoffend by committing similar crimes, given "the time elapsed" and that he is also disqualified. Faced with this decision, the prosecutor appealed to the Provincial Court, which has now agreed with him.

 

Reyes' "criminal dangerousness"


"It is possible to speak of the criminal dangerousness of the convict and the existing criminal proceedings against him cannot be ignored, along with said dangerousness", argues the order of the Second Section of the Court, which recalls that Reyes already has another conviction behind him, in addition to several pending cases for similar crimes.

"Both the seriousness of the facts and the criminal reiteration must be taken into account", insists the order, which emphasizes that in all cases, the facts focus on the granting of licenses "knowing their illegality". "The dangerousness of said conduct is evident, reiterated, which is not minimized by the penalty of disqualification imposed or by the time elapsed", the Court emphasizes.

In this regard, it concludes that "what the aforementioned convictions show is the little respect that the convict has shown at all times for the legal system, having pending, at this time, criminal proceedings for crimes of a similar or identical nature, without the circumstance of not being able to access public jobs or positions for a time allowing to rule out the risk of committing new crimes." Therefore, it upholds the Prosecutor's appeal and agrees that it is not appropriate to suspend the execution of the prison sentence, which must now be served.

 

Requests for more than 35 years in prison


In addition to the two convictions he already has behind him (the first was a fine and disqualification and the second is this one that will now take him to prison), the former mayor of Yaiza has several pending proceedings. At least four of them have already filed the indictment and others are still in the investigation phase. Only in those that have already been qualified by the Prosecutor's Office and pending trial, a total of 35 and a half years in prison are requested.

In the last two that have been known, he is being asked for two years in prison in one and a year and a half in the other, for granting illegal licenses in two different partial plans of Playa Blanca, intended for residential use. In addition, Reyes is also accused in the Stratvs case, in which the prosecutor is asking for 7 years in prison and 44 years of disqualification.

Finally, he has pending the largest case open against him, the Yate case, which focuses on the massive granting of illegal tourist licenses by the former mayor. In total, the Prosecutor's Office is asking for 25 years in prison in that case. Along with him, in addition to Yaiza officials, his wife and three of his children will sit on the bench for alleged money laundering crimes.

 

He already spent more than two months in pre-trial detention


Although he has not yet served any prison sentence, Reyes did spend two and a half months in pre-trial detention, during the investigation of the Yate case. The former mayor was arrested in September 2009 and at the time the judge agreed to his entry into pre-trial detention.

In December of that year, José Francisco Reyes managed to be released on bail of 120,000 euros, and since then he has been awaiting trial in that case, in which he is accused of various crimes of bribery, embezzlement of public funds, money laundering and urban prevarication.

After his arrest, Reyes confessed that he had received money linked to the granting of illegal licenses, even giving the names of the businessmen who would have paid him. However, some time later he retracted his initial confession.

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