The head of the Court of First Instance Number 5 of Arrecife, Silvia Muñoz, has issued an order in which she agrees to the provisional and partial dismissal of the proceedings against 17 people, investigated in the framework of the "Unión" case, thus accepting the request made by the Prosecutor's Office.
"The existence of indications justified the deployment of investigative activity to clarify the criminal acts and identify the alleged perpetrators, but when the procedural moment arrived and the investigation was practically exhausted, even though the indications persist, there is no possibility of obtaining new incriminating data that would allow a well-founded accusation to be sustained", explains the judge in her order.
Specifically, in July, prosecutor Javier Ródenas requested in writing the provisional dismissal of the case for Segundo Rodríguez, Dayran Muñoz, Alfredo Santiago Rodríguez, Celso Betancort, Demetrio Rodríguez Robayna, José Luis Betancort Acosta, María José García Acosta, Jorge Ramón Álvarez Pérez, Juan Jesús Acuña, Pedro Manuel Rodríguez, Ginés Parrilla, Manuel Arbelo, Fermín Curbelo, Joel Delgado, Carlos Morales, Víctor Alberto Sánchez and José María Pérez.
Now, the investigation of this piece, number 12 of the "Unión" case, will continue with the rest of those charged with the alleged demand for illegal commissions by public officials and former public officials from different local administrations of Lanzarote.
Regarding the charges that have been dismissed, the magistrate considers that, since "the absence of accusation" is "sufficient" to issue the dismissal, an individualization of the investigated conduct, as well as the absence of indications, is "recommended", in order to understand why it is now and not at another time when this dismissal order is issued, and explains one by one why they were investigated and charged and why this measure is now lifted.
Case by case
Regarding Segundo Rodríguez, the judge recalls that he was initially attributed the role of "commission procurer" and the investigation revealed "indications of the delivery of an envelope" at the airport to Matías Curbelo, which could contain the commission for the purchase of wills intended for the granting of the cleaning service of the Yaiza City Council, in favor of the companies of Jorge Ramón Álvarez, another of those charged.
However, Curbelo stated that the money paid by Jorge Ramón Álvarez was due "to a good relationship and even friendship", but it was not an illegal commission. Thus, despite the indications that started from the telephone conversations, "there is no evidence in the procedure that allows the advancement of the indictment with the necessary reasonableness", the judge resolves. And it is that cleaning service in Yaiza, which raised a loud political controversy at the time, was finally not awarded to Álvarez's company.
Unconsummated facts
Telephone interventions were also important for the indictment of the member of the PIL youth Dayran Muñoz and the businessman Fermín Curbelo. In them, Muñoz spoke with public and organic officials of the PIL of an alleged "gratification" of about 400,000 euros, in exchange for allowing the urban development of a plot in Argana Alta.
After his arrest, Dayrán Muñoz himself acknowledged before the judge that he was acting as a "mediator" to obtain that "gratification" and explained that the councilor Ubaldo Becerra had told him that "the monetary perception was normal between the City Council and companies". However, after the investigation, it has not been possible to prove "any payment" by the businessman, so the indictment of both has also been dismissed.
With respect to Joel Delgado, the telephone conversations between him and the councilor Ubaldo Becerra reflected that the former, a councilor of the PP then in the opposition, was trying to get the PIL councilor to get a job in the City Council for his mother as an English translator, "despite the lack of preparation for the position", the judge emphasizes. However, he adds that "beyond the contacts and suggestions, neither the hiring nor the economic displacement in payment for any service has been proven".
The first detainee
The list of people who will be excluded from this case includes Alfredo Santiago Rodríguez, who was one of the first detainees. Specifically, he was present when one of the Unión complainants handed over 95,000 euros to Matías Curbelo, while the UCO was watching the operation to act.
At that time, Alfredo Santiago was the one carrying the money, although the judge points out that after the relevant investigation procedures, "there are no rational indications that Alfredo Santiago knew the content of the envelope". Matías Curbelo himself, who has confessed his participation in this and other operations of collecting illegal commissions, "stated the ignorance of Mr. Rodríguez, who did not know either the content or the business, being a mere agent without any knowledge, for this and for many other ordinary errands in general compliance with what his superiors ordered him within the functioning of the political party".
Pointed out by another defendant
In relation to Celso Betancort, the judge recalls that to incriminate him, only the "incriminating bias" of the version of the defendant Matías Curbelo is available, but it has not been possible to prove whether he ordered him to "falsify" the PIL accounts. As for the businessman Demetrio Rodríguez, who would have agreed to pay a commission of 9,000 euros for the City Council to award some works to his company, it was also Matías Curbelo who incriminated him. And since there are no other "reasonable evidence" to support the accusation, the judge also agrees to his dismissal.
The businessman José Luis Betancort is also in the same circumstance, who was initially investigated for whether he had made use of privileged information so that the Arrecife City Council's contracting table would award him most of the works of Plan E. "The lack of documentation to support the investigation makes the provisional dismissal of the same proceed", says magistrate Silvia Muñoz.
Regarding the businesswoman María José García, who was trying to collect invoices owed to her by the Arrecife City Council, the indications started from a call registered on the phone of Matías Curbelo, which was judicially intervened, and also from a meeting followed by the UCO agents. Now, the judge points out that no indications have been obtained that she paid any commission to get that debt collected.
The businessmen Juan Jesús Acuña Borges and Pedro Manuel Rodríguez García were also charged with the alleged payment of illegal commissions, since Matías Curbelo gave their names in his confession. But beyond the statement, "no sufficiently solvent indications have been found to justify the economic demands and the payments made or the administrative favor".
Manuel Arbelo is in the same situation, investigated for whether he had contributed to the illegal financing of the PIL with 60,000 euros. There were also indications pointing to Ginés Parrilla, but as has happened with other intermediaries in the alleged payment of commissions, his intervention has not been proven either.
General Plan
Finally, in relation to Carlos Morales, Víctor Alberto Sánchez and José María Pérez Sánchez, Dimas Martín supposedly had given instructions for these architects to be awarded the General Urban Planning Plan of Arrecife. Ubaldo Becerra, as deputy mayor and councilor of the General Plan, and José Miguel Rodríguez, as councilor of Finance and Urbanism, would have proceeded to award the drafting of the progress of the General Plan to the group of architects, "headed by Becerra's own cousin", Carlos Morales.
The version that the aforementioned architects maintained is that the project consisted of developing the architectural ideas for the future of Arrecife, a "transparent initiative in which the architects would work without pressure and with total freedom".
The judge insists that Dimas Martín's plans to award the General Plan "to a straw architect", according to the intercepted conversation between the former leader of the PIL and his daughter Elena Martín, "do not necessarily imply either the knowledge or the participation of the previous charged architects". In addition, the project was finally frustrated, since there was neither hiring, nor payment, nor delivery of the progress made.
For all these reasons, the judge has agreed in an order to the provisional dismissal of the proceedings that were being followed by them. "When the current procedural moment arrives and the investigation is practically exhausted, even though the indications persist, there is no possibility of obtaining new incriminating data that would allow a well-founded accusation to be sustained", determines magistrate Silvia Muñoz, who will continue the investigation of this piece with the rest of those charged.
