The Las Palmas Prosecutor's Office has requested the opening of oral proceedings for the case of the La Bufona urbanization (Arrecife). The prosecutor is asking for four years in prison for the developers and builders of the homes, Antonio Caro and the architect Federico Echevarría, for a continuing crime against land management and another of serious disobedience against the authority, for continuing with the works despite the fact that their stoppage was ordered. They are also asked for a fine of 36,000 and 22,000 euros, respectively, and the demolition of all the houses in the urbanization.
The indictment requests the dismissal for the other developer and former municipal official in charge of the Arrecife cadastre, Francisco Carmona, who has already passed away. There is no mention at any time as to whether or not the case against the former mayor María Isabel Déniz and the former municipal secretary, Felipe Fernández Camero, who have been charged during a large part of the investigation and whose provisional dismissal, requested by Court number 3 of Arrecife, is being appealed before the Provincial Court.
Recently, the Agency for the Protection of the Urban and Natural Environment (Apmun) has ordered the demolition of part of the works of 14 chalets that are located on rustic land. Among the owners of the houses are the parliamentarian, vice president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote and president of the island's Popular Party, Astrid Pérez, and the prosecutor of Las Palmas Miguel Pallarés, former coordinating prosecutor of Lanzarote.
The Apmun considers that after the purchase of the homes by the owners, some of the reported works were not yet appreciated, "so the obligation to restore is attributable both in terms of owners and promoters of the works." The Prosecutor's Office document also does not mention the possible responsibility of the owners.
"Speculative purposes"
The prosecutor points out that the two defendants, moved by "speculative purposes", built 53 homes where they could only build 30, and that they did so consciously without a municipal license and without territorial qualification, also occupying an area of rustic land of ecological value and exceeding the surface area of the partial plan and that of the houses, in addition to disobeying the orders to stop made by the Apmun. The first complaints against the works are from the year 1999.
The indictment refers to the technical reports carried out by the Government of the Canary Islands in which the irregularities of both the General Directorate of Urban Planning and the Apmun are detailed. The Prosecutor's Office requests the declaration in the oral hearing of 15 witnesses, among whom are Eduardo and Gonzalo Murillo, complainants and owners of one of the occupied plots, as well as personnel from Seprona, the General Directorate of Cadastre, the Roads Service, the Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of the Environment of the Canary Islands Government and the Apmun. No technician or public official from the Arrecife City Council is cited to testify.
Saúl García/ACN Press
