Operation "Unión" has returned strongly to Lanzarote, leaving so far eight detainees, who are waiting to be brought to justice, and a large number of searches in companies and private homes. Among them, that of the former mayor of Arrecife, María Isabel Déniz, who has been arrested and would be charged with alleged bribery offenses, related to her time at the head of the City Council. Déniz, like other detainees, is being held incommunicado, awaiting the decision of the head of the Court of Instruction Number 5 of Arrecife, César Romero Pamparacuatro.
In addition, the former councilor of the Cabildo de Lanzarote and former socialist militant, Miguel Ángel Leal, has been arrested, as part of a new phase of the investigation, which could be related to the treatment of waste and the environmental complex of Zonzamas.
In fact, the Classified Activities engineer of the Cabildo, Manuel Spínola, and the manager of the cleaning company Urbaser, Jacinto Álvarez, have also been arrested, as well as another employee of the same company, Stephani Jean Valverde, who has been arrested in Madrid. Among other things, Urbaser is the concessionaire of the street, park and garden cleaning service of the capital of Lanzarote and the collection of solid waste.
Business links
These arrests are added to those of the head of the Technical Office of the Arrecife City Council, Rafael Arrocha, who was also arrested in the first phase of Operation "Unión", and that of Julio Romero, a historical militant of the Popular Party in Lanzarote and director of an office of La Caja de Canarias in Arrecife. Both Romero and Arrocha and Manuel Spínola have been professionally linked, even forming an engineering and consulting company together.
The eighth detainee this Monday is the businessman Francisco Armas, who was president of the hotel association Asolan and, among other things, is president and CEO of the construction company Horinsa.
The eight detainees, who have been transferred to different dependencies and barracks until they are brought to justice, are charged with crimes of bribery, influence peddling and activities prohibited to public officials, according to the Civil Guard.
In the press release that it has made public, it indicates that the investigation "remains open", so it is not ruled out that in the coming days there will be new arrests or charges for this cause, which remains under summary secrecy.
Common interests and commissions
The new phase of Operation "Unión", baptized as Operation "Jable", would have uncovered another alleged corruption network also focused on the collection of illegal commissions from businessmen but, in addition, it also has another new front: that of public officials who had interests in different companies and who, supposedly, received economic benefits through the institutions, with payments of invoices for services and awarding of contracts.
According to the Civil Guard, which has carried out this investigation through the Central Operative Unit (UCO) and jointly with the Court of Instruction Number 5 of Arrecife and the Prosecutor's Office for the Environment and Urban Planning, the plot has been "dismantled" thanks to the analysis of the documentation that was seized in the first phase of Operation "Unión", both in the Arrecife City Council and in different companies and homes.
Operation "Unión" took its first public step on May 25, 2009, and continued three days later, in a second phase in which it extended to the Yaiza City Council. So far there were already more than 40 people charged in the case, and the figure would now exceed fifty.
RELATED NEWS
[Miguel Ángel Leal and a technician from the Cabildo join the list of detainees in the new phase of "Unión"
->38624]
[The UCO detains Rafael Arrocha again and also arrests Julio Romero->38625]
[Isabel Déniz leaves her home under arrest->38667]
[Businessman Francisco Armas arrested->38668]
[New search in a warehouse in Arrecife->38673]
[The UCO ends the search at the home of the manager of Urbaser->38677]
[The Civil Guard points out that it has dismantled "the most important organized plot in Lanzarote"->38675]
