The Prosecutor's Office has requested a sentence of another three years in prison for the former mayor of Haría, Juan Ramírez for an alleged crime of fraud in the sale of a home. It also requests three years in prison for Anja Hradetzky, who, together with Ramírez, was the administrator of the entity Arad Lanzarote S.L. The trial for these events will take place at the end of May.
In its indictment, which La Voz has had access to, the Prosecutor's Office considers that Ramírez and Hradetzky, "previously agreed and with the intention of obtaining an illicit patrimonial benefit", sold an apartment, located in the Aquazul complex, in Puerto del Carmen. The purchase agreement was dated September 30, 2002 and included J.F.B. and A.M. as buyers.
The defendants sold this apartment to the buyers for 60,101.21 euros. According to the Prosecutor's Office, they did so "knowing that the aforementioned property was subject to a mortgage, granted in favor of the Caja Insular de Ahorros de Canarias". This mortgage burden, moreover, was extended by virtue of a public deed in favor of the entity, according to the Prosecutor's Office. Precisely for this reason, the Caja Insular proceeded to file a lawsuit for mortgage foreclosure against Arad Lanzarote S.L., which led to an open procedure in the Court of First Instance Number 4 of Arrecife.
For the Prosecutor's Office, during the processing of this procedure, "the defendants, with the intention of silencing their illicit action, did not inform the complainants" of this fact. Finally, the Caja Insular was awarded the property, "making the right of the complainants illusory". For all these reasons, the Prosecutor's Office also requests that Ramírez and Hradetzky compensate the complainants with the amount of 60,101.21 euros.
A very similar conviction
In 2009, Juan Ramírez was also sentenced to two years in prison for a very similar crime of fraud, also for the sale of an apartment in the Aguazul Complex. In that case, the Criminal Court Number 3 of Arrecife imposed this prison sentence for selling a house and hiding from its buyers that there was a mortgage on the property.
These events date back to November 2004. Juan Ramírez, also being the administrator of the entity "Arad Lanzarote S.L.", signed a private contract for the sale of apartment number 314 of the Aguazul Complex, located in the town of Puerto del Carmen. The price set was 162,275 euros, and at the signing ceremony he received 24,000 from Carlos Fernández, who acted as an intermediary for the buyers, because they lived outside the island.
However, after the signing they began to receive delays in registering the property and 21 days later, they saw how it passed into the hands of the Caja Insular de Ahorros Canarias, by virtue of a judicial order. And it is that there was an unpaid mortgage on it.
In addition, the company of which Juan Ramírez was the administrator, and in whose name that property was sold, shortly after entered into bankruptcy proceedings. The buyers complained that they were not even informed of the existence of bankruptcy proceedings, at least to have been able to be part of it.
Other convictions
Likewise, in May 2010, the Investigating Court Number 6 of Arrecife also sentenced Ramírez to two years and three months in prison for a crime of fraud in the purchase and sale of a plot of land in Tahíche. On that occasion, the sentence considered it proven that the former mayor of Haría sold "the same property twice".
To these two convictions we must also add the Villa Dolores case, for which he is currently serving a prison sentence. The Supreme Court sentenced him to three years and six months in prison, as well as four years of political disqualification and a fine for document forgery in the lease agreement for public use of this property.
The events for which Ramírez was convicted date back to 1995, when the plenary session of the Haría City Council agreed to sign a contract to lease the Villa Dolores property for 150,000 pesetas per month for five years, to create a workshop school for the rehabilitation of the heritage of Haría.
An additional clause was added to the initial contract "by which if the City Council opted for the extension of the contract for 20 more years, the lessor would receive the amount of 500,000 pesetas per month", additional clause that did not appear in the contract when it was approved in the plenary session of the City Council.
