Reyes, guilty

José Francisco Reyes committed a crime. This is not said by a media outlet that "persecutes" him, nor by the opposition that holds a grudge against him. Not even the Public Prosecutor's Office. Now it is directly stated by the Criminal Court of Arrecife, which has convicted ...

March 20 2009 (15:05 WET)

José Francisco Reyes committed a crime. This is not said by a media outlet that "persecutes" him, nor by the opposition that holds a grudge against him. Not even the Public Prosecutor's Office. Now it is directly stated by the Criminal Court of Arrecife, which has convicted ...

José Francisco Reyes committed a crime. This is not said by a media outlet that "persecutes" him, nor by the opposition that holds a grudge against him. Not even the Public Prosecutor's Office. Now it is directly stated by the Criminal Court of Arrecife, which has sentenced the former mayor of Yaiza to ten years of political disqualification and to pay a fine of almost 26,000 euros for a crime of urban planning malfeasance in the granting of a license on protected territorial land.

After years of seeing how Reyes granted licenses contravening the Island Plan, the General Plan of his municipality, the partial plans, and even the indications of his technicians, Justice has finally spoken, and has considered him guilty. And the judicial path has only just begun.

In fact, the case that has cost him his first conviction is only the first of those that will take him to the dock. And also the least serious. It is even anecdotal compared to others that are awaiting trial or are under investigation. But certainly enough for the Court to have decided to remove him from political life for ten years.

The naivety exhibited by José Francisco Reyes during the trial did not convince the court. Neither did his memory lapses and his efforts to appear as ignorant in urban planning matters.

The surprising statement that he did not read the reports before granting that license and that "in general he does not read documents" has not exempted him from responsibility before the criminal court. Nor did he assure that "even if he read them, I would understand little because I do not understand urban planning or that type of law".

The sentence considers proven the accusation of the Prosecutor's Office, which during the trial argued that up to three municipal technicians, in addition to the presidency of the Cabildo, warned Reyes that it was rustic land, and still he granted the license. He, according to his statement, "imagined" that it was urban land, "because it is surrounded by houses".

With this ruling, his victimistic discourse definitively collapses. His hackneyed lament that he is a poor victim of political and media persecution. His chant that the Cabildo was trying to stop the development of his municipality. But above all, his impunity ends. For the first time, Justice rules that he committed a crime in the granting of a license. Of one of the dozens of licenses he granted during his dark mandate, some at breakneck speed and hiding them from the Cabildo, despite the fact that according to him he had no idea what he was doing when he signed those permits. Therefore, this is only the beginning. Ahead, the former mayor of Yaiza has a long period of visits to the courts pending, and to account for matters of great importance. The first will be to respond to an alleged continuing crime against land planning, for the granting of nine licenses for the construction of homes on a rustic property. And in this case, the reasons for the accusation are very similar to those that have already led to his first conviction. He authorized the works ignoring the Island Plan and the territorial classification of that land. In addition, Reyes must also face the criminal complaint for the granting of the license for the thousand homes of Costa Roja and, above all, the investigation that does not analyze a specific license, but an entire way of proceeding for five years, specifically between 1998 and 2003, in which Reyes granted more than 30 building licenses and extensions of other expired ones, which are under suspicion of corruption. And it is that in this case, he is not only accused of a crime of malfeasance, but also of money laundering, bribery and influence peddling. That is where the intention is to truly get to the bottom of the matter and clarify why José Francisco Reyes granted illegal licenses, and if he obtained any benefit in return. In fact, the Court authorized the Unit against Organized Crime to track the assets of the former mayor and his environment.

Without a doubt, justice is slow and the processes complex but, for the moment, it has already given a first lesson. For José Francisco Reyes and, in general, for all those in whom the people place their trust. The law is written for everyone, and when face to face with a judge, neither demagoguery, nor excuses, nor the whining that the world is against you are of any use.

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