The Prosecutor's Office maintains that the promoters of Marina Rubicón gave a "gift" of more than 60,000 euros to Reyes for the illegal licenses

The Prosecutor's Office maintains that the promoters of Marina Rubicón gave a "gift" of more than 60,000 euros to Reyes for the illegal licenses

The promoters of the Marina Rubicón Sports Port (Juan Francisco Rosa, Rafael Lasso and Francisco Armas) gave a "gift" valued at more than 60,000 euros to the former mayor of Yaiza, ...

March 12 2013 (00:14 WET)
The Prosecutor's Office maintains that the promoters of Marina Rubicón gave a bribe of more than 60,000 euros to Reyes for the illegal licenses
The Prosecutor's Office maintains that the promoters of Marina Rubicón gave a bribe of more than 60,000 euros to Reyes for the illegal licenses

 

The promoters of the Marina Rubicón Sports Port (Juan Francisco Rosa, Rafael Lasso and Francisco Armas) gave a "gift" valued at more than 60,000 euros to the former mayor of Yaiza, José Francisco Reyes, directly related to "the granting of several licenses granted previously" to these businessmen, "knowing of their frontal collision with urban regulations." This is what the Prosecutor's Office maintains in the indictment of the "Yacht" case, in which, among other things, Reyes is charged with a continued crime of passive bribery, for receiving gifts in exchange for his illegal actions as mayor in favor of different businessmen.

In the case of Marina Rubicón, the gift consisted of leaving him a free mooring for the boat "El Pachi", for which he would have had to pay about 600 euros per month (during the more than eight years he has been in those facilities). In its writing, the prosecutor directly relates this "gift" to the granting of the license for the sports port itself, granted in March 2003, but also to the illegal licenses for the Princesa Yaiza and Son Bou hotels, both owned by Juan Francisco Rosa, and for the license granted to Francisco Armas for the Meliá Volcán hotel.

Armas obtained a license for that hotel two weeks after requesting it, while Rosa only took three days to get the one for Princesa Yaiza (he requested it on Friday, May 29, 1998, and the following Monday, June 1, it had already been granted). In the case of the three hotels, the licenses have been declared illegal with a final judgment, while the port could now suffer the same fate, since the Prosecutor's Office has requested within this case that the license be annulled, considering that it is also illegal. At the time, that permit was requested by Rafael Lasso, when the works had actually been going on for two and a half years and were practically finished, and it was granted only six days later.

For the free mooring and other "gifts" received by the former mayor, the Prosecutor's Office accuses Reyes of a continued crime of passive bribery and asks for two and a half years in prison, four years of disqualification and a fine of almost 6,500 euros. However, it does not file charges against the businessmen, since the Penal Code in force when the events occurred does not contemplate penalties for the one who gives the gift, as long as it is delivered after the official or public office has carried out the act to favor them.

That is, when it comes to a "reward" a posteriori, the applicable legislation only contemplates penalties for the one who receives it, but not for the one who delivers it. And in this case, Reyes enjoyed this gift after granting the illegal licenses to the promoters of the port.

 

Reyes "enriched himself by many of the licenses he granted"


In addition to this case, the Prosecutor's Office maintains that Reyes received many other bribes in exchange for granting illegal licenses. And not only in the form of gifts, but also in cash. In fact, it maintains that this is the origin of the assets of unknown origin that the investigation found in the former mayor, and which amounts to "the minimum amount of 1,239,343 euros."

In the indictment, signed by Javier Ródenas and Ignacio Stampa, the Prosecutor's Office affirms that the former mayor made "his public office a way of doing business, enriching himself by many of the licenses he granted, by collecting money from some promoters with urban interests in Yaiza for his personal profit."

However, and although it is clear that Reyes managed to "amass a significant fortune" thanks to the money he received from "businessmen and promoters awarded the illegal licenses", it also points out that these people are not "perfectly identified", so it has not been possible to file charges against them.

It should be remembered that after his arrest in the framework of this case, Reyes confessed to having received bribes and even gave several names, although he later retracted his statement. In addition, several businessmen were charged, but finally the proceedings against them were dismissed.

José Francisco Reyes is accused of an alleged continued crime of bribery (in addition to passive bribery and others such as urban prevarication, money laundering and embezzlement), since the Prosecutor's Office is convinced that the assets that the former mayor amassed come from bribes. However, it has been impossible to determine when they were paid and for what specific acts. And this is due, precisely, to the large volume of illicit acts carried out by the former mayor: from the granting of illegal licenses, to the speeding up of files or even mere "omissions", such as "not sanctioning illegal works or not restoring urban legality".

The only crimes of bribery that the Prosecutor's Office identifies with its author, in the form of alleged gifts, were delivered a posteriori as an alleged "reward", so by virtue of the Penal Code that must be applied, the businessmen cannot be accused either.

 

An alleged almost "non-existent" activity


In their statement in the Courts, those responsible for Marina Rubicón assured that if they did not charge Reyes for the mooring it was because the boat carried out a business activity and paid for the loading and unloading of passengers. However, the prosecutor is clear that it was actually a gift, as an alleged reward for the illegal licenses.

"After analyzing the documentation provided by Puerto Marina Rubicón itself, it is accredited that from 04/18/2005, when the boarding and disembarkation of passengers is authorized for the first time, until September 30, 2009, when the judicial sealing of said vessel is agreed within the framework of this procedure, no activity is developed that justifies said liberality, since the total amount charged by the company operating the port for passengers who board and disembark from said vessel amounts to the amount of 396.56 euros in those four years", the prosecutor points out.

That is, what El Pachi paid in four years to Marina Rubicón for this concept does not even cover the expenses of one month of mooring. In addition, the prosecutor adds that "during the first two years of mooring of the vessel in the marina (from the summer of 2004 to July 2006), as well as during the year 2008", the activity of the alleged company "is null and totally non-existent".

For this reason, he maintains that the transfer of the mooring was really a "gift" to the former mayor, both for the granting of illegal licenses to three hotels and the port, and to "reward" his "voluntary inactivity in the exercise of his powers in matters of urban discipline, since the construction works of the port began in the year 2000, when the mandatory municipal license was lacking, and it was only requested by the promoters when the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands suspended said works due to the absence of the aforementioned license".

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