The proximity of the trial of one of the central pieces of Unión, number 12, has already led several defendants to reiterate their confession and their repentance and even return significant sums of money. In total, so far they have already delivered to Court Number 5 close to 100,000 euros, which will be returned to the Arrecife City Council to repair part of the damage they caused to the Council with the embezzlement of public funds.
As was made public in early June, the first was the businessman Jesús Manuel Martín Brito, representative of the company Infogelan S.L., who delivered a total of 50,851 euros. Afterwards, the businessman Antonio Gómez Ruiz, administrator of La Palmita, and the former Finance Councilor of Arrecife, José Miguel Rodríguez, have joined him.
In the case of Gómez Ruiz, he deposited 33,065 euros in the Court's account. Afterwards, on Thursday, June 18, he appeared in Court to deliver the proof of deposit and to reiterate the confession he made at the time, after his arrest in this case. Specifically, the money that the businessman has returned corresponds to four of the invoices he charged the Arrecife City Council for the same concept. In his appearance, he acknowledged that he had collected that money "unduly" and that he had "caused economic damage to public coffers".
Damage repair, mitigating factor in the trial
In the case of La Palmita, between 2007 and 2008 it invoiced the City Council about 300,000 euros for 21 different contracts. All of them have been investigated in this case after finding "gross irregularities" in the contracting files, although the amount returned is limited to the case of an invoice that was charged up to four times. With this, you can get a reduction in the sentence, since the Penal Code contemplates the repair of the damage as a mitigating factor when dictating a sentence.
The former councilor José Miguel Rodríguez, who was already convicted in the first piece of Unión that went to trial, for the fraudulent payments to Francisco Rodríguez Batllori for services not provided, may also benefit from the same benefit. In that piece, Rodríguez Batllori delivered almost 20,000 euros before the trial was held. Now, in this new piece in which he is also charged, he has deposited "for the moment" 9,000 euros. In his appearance in Court on June 11, he explained that it is "the amount he has been able to gather" so far, "without prejudice to the fractional or progressive payment of the amounts that may correspond to him, reiterating that his intention is the full repair of the damage caused". In addition, he again acknowledged the facts imputed to him and expressed "his deepest regret".
Matías Curbelo ratifies his confession and blames Dimas
To these three voluntary appearances in recent weeks, after the order that put an end to the investigation of the case was issued, is also added that of Matías Curbelo, who for years was Dimas Martín's right-hand man and after his arrest also confessed and even provided new data of the party, his colleagues and even a CD with parallel accounting of the PIL.
In the case of Curbelo, although he has not delivered an economic sum, he did reiterate his confession. In addition, he insisted that he acted following "instructions from Dimas Martín" and acknowledged that as administrator before the Electoral Board for the 2007 elections, "he prepared a parallel accounting different from the official one, so that the money from illegal commissions would be kept out of the legal circuit". In addition, he specified that during that electoral period he delivered "at least 3,353 euros" personally to Dimas Martín and that the illegal commission that was demanded from Antonio Castellano (one of the two complainants in the Unión case) was going to be distributed among "José Miguel Rodríguez, Ubaldo Becerra and Dimas Martín himself".
Regarding the former councilor Ubaldo Becerra, it should be remembered that he also confessed at the time to receiving illegal commissions in exchange for fraudulent awards in the Arrecife City Council. In addition, other businessmen charged in this piece, such as Manuel Gregorio Reina Fabre, also confessed at the time to the facts and have not retracted their statement, although for now they have not voluntarily gone to ratify it or deliver sums of money to try to benefit from the repair of the damage as a mitigating factor.
Final stretch for the trial with 15 defendants
In total, in this piece there are 15 defendants, among whom are also the historical leader of the PIL, Dimas Martín, the also former councilors Antonio Machín and Luisa Blanco, the one who was head of the Technical Office of Arrecife, Rafael Arrocha; the head of Contracting (and daughter of Dimas Martín), María Elena Martín and the auditor of Arrecife, Carlos Sáenz. As for the businessmen, in addition to Gómez Ruiz, Martín Brito and Reina Fabre, Antonio Cárdenas, Samuel Jesús Lemes and Juan Francisco Rosa are charged in this piece.
After the order of abbreviated procedure was issued, with which Judge Silvia Muñoz put an end to the investigation, the case is only waiting for the presentation of the indictments by the Prosecutor's Office and the popular accusation. Afterwards, the judge will order the opening of oral trial. As for the money, in addition to what the sentence may establish, for the moment the Court has already offered the Arrecife City Council the amounts delivered in advance by some defendants.
Specifically, after the first delivery of Jesús Manuel Martín Brito, the mayor of Arrecife, who at that time was still Manuel Fajardo Feo, was called to make the money available to the Council. And in that appearance, which took place on June 9, Fajardo accepted "the amount consigned" by the businessman "as an overcost in the contracting", although he asked that for the moment that sum "remain on deposit" in the consignments account of the Court, until the final sentence is issued.
