The treasurer of Arrecife, Antonio Cabrera Panasco, is no longer accused in the Montecarlo case. Judge Ricardo Fiestras has decided to dismiss the proceedings opened against him, thus coinciding with the criteria raised from the outset by the Prosecutor's Office in this case. In his order, dated January 12, the judge underlines the "absence of indications of criminal offense" in the actions of Cabrera Panasco.
"No criminal intent can be inferred if the payer only knows the payment order and not the rest of the documentation," the judge points out, clarifying that the treasurer does not intervene in the authorization of payments, but only in their material execution. In addition, he adds that "when he had data", Cabrera Panasco "expressed his disagreement", both to the councilor of Finance when the invoices under investigation were paid, José Montelongo, and to the then mayor, Cándido Reguera. He even went so far as to put "in writing his refusal to make payments outside the legally established order of priority", that is, the legal order in which payments must be made. And "when he had doubts", he also "expressed it explicitly and repeatedly", the judge adds.
The order recalls that initially, the treasurer was going to be summoned as a witness in the case, at the request of the Prosecutor's Office. Even, the summons had already been issued. However, after receiving an expert report, the judge points out that the defense of the current mayor, José Montelongo (accused in the case for his time as a Finance councilor), made "recommendations" for the treasurer to testify as an accused and not as a witness.
"It is not said treasurer who could be suspected"
The judge who was then investigating the case decided at that time to accuse the treasurer, in an order that was appealed at the time by the Public Prosecutor. Finally, the appeal was rejected and Cabrera Panasco testified up to two times as an accused. "From these statements, as well as from the documents provided in them, the absence of indications of criminal offense in his actions is consolidated," the investigating judge now points out.
In addition, he adds that up to three treasurers intervened in the payments to Inelcon and Señalcon, which are the ones being investigated in this piece. However, no one else was charged or asked to be charged. "It is not said treasurer, of the three who acted with respect to Inelcon and Señalcon, who could be suspected of facilitating irregular payments to such companies," the magistrate concludes in his order.
Unlike what happens in the three pieces opened in the Arrecife City Council, in the one in San Bartolomé the treasurer of that municipality, Luis Manuel Rodríguez Pérez, is accused. The reason is that in that municipality, the payments that are being investigated are directly related to the Treasury area. Specifically, the businessman José Vicente Montesinos charged almost 400,000 euros for alleged advisory and collaboration services with the collection of municipal taxes. And in that case, Rodríguez Pérez was the technician who had to verify if the payments really corresponded to services rendered, which the Prosecutor's Office and the investigating judge consider was not the case.
Witness in the Unión trial
Last December, Antonio Cabrera Panasco testified as a witness in the trial of one of the pieces of Unión, for payments to the company Proselan for allegedly unrendered services. During the hearing, the treasurer of Arrecife explained that in that case, as in many others, he was only given "the last sheet, the payment order, because all the others were removed". According to him, until 2008 the payment orders arrived to him "more complete". However, in that year they did not send him the files, only that last document that is the one that obliges him to make the payment.
"Treasury manages the funds and the control of the collection, but Intervention is the one that does the prior audit," Cabrera Panasco declared, detailing that the auditor's job is both the formal audit (related to the budget of that expense) and the material audit (confirming that the service has actually been performed). "If the payment order is signed, it is mandatory for the treasurer," he explained.
It should be remembered that the auditor, Carlos Sáenz, was in the dock in that trial, who in turn is the main defendant in the Montecarlo case, in which he is accused in all the pieces. "I think our treasurer argues continuously," Sáenz said during that trial, when prosecutor Ignacio Stampa expressly asked him about the role of the treasurer of the Arrecife City Council and if he had "argued" the payment of those invoices to Proselan.
Regarding the payments that are being investigated in the Montecarlo case, the Prosecutor's Office emphasizes that in the cases in which he had more data, or in which issues that were within his competence were affected, Cabrera Panasco "expressed" both to the then councilor of Finance, José Montelongo, and to the then mayor, Cándido Reguera, "his disagreement with the decisions" that were being adopted. And another of the officials who served as treasurer in this stage, Carmen Villaverde, also made warnings.
