The Environmental Prosecutor's Office of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) admitted for processing during the past month of November the [complaint filed->http://www.lavozdelanzarote.com/article.php3?id_article=1440&var_recherche=campo+de+golf+PP] by the Popular Group of Tías, against two agreements of the Plenary that, in relation to the construction of the controversial golf course of Puerto del Carmen, are allegedly constitutive of two crimes. This was announced this Wednesday by the Popular Group in the City Council of Tías.
The councilor of the Popular Group in Tías, Ramón Melián, explained the PP's complaint to the Prosecutor's Office, presented on October 7, 2005 after the Plenary of August 16, is based on the approval of the Golf Course Compensation Project and the alienation by auction of the assets acquired by virtue of the approval of said agreement.
According to the complaint filed with the Prosecutor's Office, the government team headed by the mayor, José Juan Cruz Saavedra, -except for the councilor Juan Félix Eugenio, who did not attend - would have committed two crimes of malfeasance, punishable today with penalties of special disqualification for employment or public office of between 7 and 10 years.
Non-compliance
In their complaint, the Populars allege the non-compliance in the transfer of 10% of the urban development of the partial plan that, by legal imperative, corresponds to the City Council of Tías.
The Populars criticized that since November 2003 they have been opposing the project, since then the government group began the expropriations of the land accepting a very low offer from the Compensation Board of the Golf Course. Specifically, only 4.50 euros for each square meter of the affected land, belonging to the residents of the municipality.
For the Populars, who criticized that the mayor did not mediate between the Compensation Board and the residents, the starting price for this auction was "derisory". In addition, the auditor's report was negative to the alienation by auction of 2,500,000 euros (420 million pesetas) for an area of 87,000 m², "which seriously harms municipal interests".
Alienation project
The PP councilors explained that if the appraisal had been done when all the works had been executed, the valuation would have been much higher. "The Alienation Project does not contemplate the transfer of 10% of the development of the Polygon in surface area of land, but in shares (in percentages of the existing plots) and in joint ownership with the remaining members of the Compensation Board".
According to the accusations of the PP in Tías, "neither land nor money was transferred, as required by law, but a kind of exchange was made between the land or money of mandatory transfer". On the other hand, the Populars explained that the transfer in joint ownership "implies a greater burden for the City Council".
One of the main problems was based on the fact that, instead of transferring to the City Council plots for residential use, "the only ones that could interest the local Corporation to carry out public housing promotions".
The auditor's report
According to the Populars, the auditor's report disappeared a few days before the plenary session of August 16, and then "the report was no longer in the file". According to the PP, in said report the auditor issues a "devastating" report on the alienation, highlighting that he is informed one day before the Information Commission of the realization of the mandatory report required by law, "not complying with the established deadlines to issue reports".
The Populars also criticized that in the City Council there is no Exploitation Registry, as required by decree 1/2000 of May 8 of the Revised Text of the Laws of Territorial Planning of the Canary Islands. In his report, the auditor highlights that prior to said alienation, a justification report with the cause of the alienation, physical and legal purification of the property to be alienated and its clear identification, with the contribution of the registration in the Property Registry, should be included in the file, "and that are not included in the file".
Similarly, the report indicates that in one of the four uses in which the compensation project is divided - hotel plot, commercial plot, golf course plot and residential plot, 10% of the residential use does not appear, "by the way, the plot with the highest economic value", thus failing to comply with the current legality of assigning a linear 10% for each of the uses.
In the document, the auditor also highlights that it is not stated that the asset object of alienation is not necessary for general use, and that the alienation has not been separated by lots, which limits the concurrence to the auction, in addition to not having been published in the Official State Gazette (BOE), "failing to comply with the Local Regime".
In favor of the field, not of the forms
The spokesman of the PP in the southern town, José Francisco Hernández, made it clear that at all times his political formation has been in favor of building such a space to diversify the tourist offer of Puerto del Carmen. "What we disagree with is the way in which this whole process has been carried out", he remarked.
