The Provincial Court has already issued a ruling in the first trial of the Unión case and has done so by condemning the six defendants who sat on the bench. The ruling considers it proven that all incurred in continued crimes of embezzlement of public funds and prevarication in the payments that were made from Inalsa and from the Arrecife City Council to the former Deputy Minister of Justice of the Government of the Canary Islands, Francisco Rodríguez Batllori, for services not provided.
The highest penalty is precisely the one imposed on Batllori, who also adds another crime of document forgery. In total, the Court imposes a sentence of 7 years and three months in prison. As for Dimas, he must serve five and a half years in prison.
A similar penalty is imposed on the former CEO of Inalsa, Plácida Guerra; and the former manager of Inalsa, Rafael Elorrieta, sentenced to five years in prison each. As for the former Councilor for Personnel of Arrecife, Luisa Blanco, the Court imposes four and a half years in prison.
The lowest penalty is for the former Finance Councilor of Arrecife, José Miguel Rodríguez, since he acknowledged the facts during the trial and had shown his agreement with the sentence. In his case, the Court imposes one year in prison.
They must return the embezzled money
In addition, they must all return the embezzled money to Inalsa and the Arrecife City Council. In total, 26,089 euros to Inalsa and 19,764 euros to the capital's Consistory. In all cases, the ruling imposes practically all of the penalties requested by prosecutor Javier Ródenas.
The Court points out as "proven facts" that Dimas Martín and Rodríguez Batllori "conspired so that the second, improperly and without any consideration, would benefit from public funds from the island of Lanzarote." To do this, "guided by the desire for profit and with the purpose of satisfying certain expenses," Batllori presented "minutes that did not correspond to the performance of any service" to both the Arrecife City Council and Inalsa.
Afterwards, these minutes were paid by both administrations thanks to "the influence that as members of the PIL", Dimas Martín had over the public officials on whom these payments depended. And all of them were "perfectly aware that said payment was due to Dimas Martín's own interests" and not to any service provided for the institutions.
As the Prosecutor's Office maintained in its indictment, the Court considers it proven that what Batllori did carry out were private negotiations for Dimas Martín, "for the achievement of the third degree of penitentiary."
Second conviction of Unión
Although this was the first trial of the Unión case, in reality it is the second conviction within this cause. The first was issued last December, against José Francisco Reyes. In that case, a trial was not even held because the former mayor of Yaiza, who was the only defendant in that piece, showed his agreement with the prosecutor's writing and accepted a sentence of six months in prison and 12 years of disqualification from employment or public office for a crime of prevarication, by granting illegal licenses for the construction of the chalet of Carlos Morales and Alexia of Greece.
