The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office has requested that a trial be opened against Inés Miranda (NC), the Councillor for Territorial Policy at the Gran Canaria Island Council, and six other island officials and businesspeople for alleged irregularities committed in connection with the Landscape Conference between 2016 and 2019, and is seeking prison sentences of up to five years.
According to a statement issued by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, in his submission of provisional conclusions, the prosecutor, Javier Ródenas, alleges that the defendants are guilty of the continuing offences of misappropriation of public funds, administrative fraud and abuse of public office, and also requests that six of the defendants pay compensation of 15,717 euros to the Cabildo.
The submission of the document took place after the investigating magistrate of Preliminary Investigation Court No. 1 at the Court of First Instance in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria had concluded the investigation and served the parties with the case file so that they could set out their allegations.
Gran Canaria: Defendants face imprisonment and removal from office
The prosecutor is seeking a five-year prison sentence and a ten-year ban from public office for Regional Minister Inés Miranda, a sentence he is also seeking for Rafael Pedrero and Víctor Quevedo, who were directors of Territorial Policy and Strategic Development for the Island Planning Scheme during those years and who are also named in the case.
The managing director of the company Imaco 89, María Ángeles Horna, who is named in the case alongside her husband, José Juan Sánchez Arencibia, who was the Island Council’s auditor at the time, and the journalist and businessman Michel Jorge Millares also face five years‘ imprisonment.
He is calling for these two defendants to be barred for six years from receiving grants and public aid, from entering into contracts with the public sector, and from receiving tax or social security benefits or incentives.
José Juan Sánchez Arencibia faces two years‘ imprisonment, a fine of 10,950 euros, and a seven-year ban on holding public office or employment, whilst for the defendant Mónica del Pino Torres, director of another company implicated in the case, the prosecution is seeking three years‘ imprisonment and a further three years‘ disqualification from receiving public subsidies and grants, contracting with the public sector, and benefiting from tax or social security incentives.
Regional conferences: Prosecution alleges pre-arranged contracts
In his 97-page submission, the prosecutor describes an alleged concerted plan between the defendants to predetermine the awarding of contracts for the Gran Canaria Landscape Days between 2016 and 2019, to conceal the identity of those who would have actually carried out the work, and to use the public procurement procedure as a mere pretence of legality.
According to the indictment, the organisation and actual running of the events were reportedly handled by María Ángeles Horna through the company Imaco 89, whilst other companies were reportedly listed formally as the successful bidders for the contracts.
It also maintains that certain services forming part of the same functional and economic unit were artificially split up to prevent their total value from exceeding the thresholds for minor contracts.
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office considers that this fragmentation would have made it possible to circumvent the requirements regarding publicity, competitive tendering and the procurement procedure which, according to its argument, were applicable given the value and nature of the services.
Gran Canaria: Contracts are said to have been awarded retrospectively
With regard to the 2019 Gran Canaria Landscape Conference, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has highlighted an alleged breach of the fundamental rules governing public procurement, with reference to Article 118.2 of the legislation on public sector contracts.
In a document setting out its provisional conclusions, it states that services were allegedly artificially segregated in order to incur public expenditure without following the legally established procedure.
Furthermore, it maintains that the negotiated procedure without advertising was used to provide administrative cover for a service that had already been carried out, in relation to the technical assistance contract for the organisation of the third Gran Canaria Landscape Conference, held in 2018.
According to the prosecution, the contract was awarded and formalised after the service had already been provided, meaning that the administrative procedures did not take place before the service was actually carried out.
The document describes a similar arrangement in relation to the 2019 event, in which a minor service contract was reportedly awarded after the practical organisation of the event was already well underway or had been completed.
Imaco is said to have carried out work despite the involvement of other contractors
The Public Prosecutor’s Office states that certain companies acted as the formal contractors for the events, whilst Imaco, according to the indictment, was responsible for the actual delivery of the services.
Specifically, the document identifies the Instituto Canario de Telecomunicaciones SL, linked to Michel Jorge Millares, as the formal successful tenderer for the contracts relating to 2016, 2017 and 2018, and Yedra Comunicación SL, linked to Mónica del Pino Torres, as the successful tenderer for the 2019 contract.
According to the Anti-Corruption Authority, the companies awarded the contracts are said to have received public funds and subsequently transferred sums to Imaco.
The document also describes financial transactions relating to suppliers and payments for services, the inclusion of which in the main contracts would be relevant in determining whether any duplication occurred.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office asserts that the revenue generated through sponsorship agreements should have been used, in accordance with the contractual terms set out in the document, to reduce the cost borne by the Cabildo, and that the contracts for 2017, 2018 and 2019 were paid in full without deducting those amounts; it estimates the loss attributable to this matter at at least 11,000 euros (3,000 euros for 2017, €4,000 for 2018 and €4,000 for 2019).
The Public Prosecutor’s Office also notes the existence of contributions in kind from collaborating organisations which, according to the document, were not applied to reduce the contractual cost either.
As regards the role of the Cabildo’s auditor, his alleged involvement centres on the processing and auditing of expenditure relating to the conferences, despite being aware of the existence of financial interests linked to Imaco, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office’s submission.
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