The Contentious Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) has ratified that the former mayor of San Juan de La Rambla Fidela Velázquez will not be able to stand for seven years in the elections after the sentences of the Criminal Court and the Provincial Court that she was convicted of two crimes of administrative prevarication.
The first offense consisted of the payment of 4,220 euros to a median for compensation that had prescribed and in the other, the payment of 300 euros to 16 officials for overtime. The two agreements to make these payments were adopted despite the warnings and objections of the secretary and the municipal comptroller.
The appeal now presented before the TSJC sought to recognize the right of the former mayor to stand in the elections and to this end it was requested to annul the decision of the Contentious Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife that endorsed the plenary agreement of December 9, 2020, in which the dismissal of Velázquez was learned.
Subsequently, the Provincial Court ratified these sentences, although in the case of Velázquez it reduced it from eight and a half years and one day to 7 and acquitted the former mayors.
The TSJC considers that from the “profane” point of view, the legal strategy of the former mayor is an attempt to “entangle the skein” so that it appears that there is a double administrative and criminal conviction for the same causes.
However, he argues that these are two “completely different” issues since the consequences of the sentences are, on the one hand, that he could not continue in office and, at the same time, that he will not be able to stand for election for seven years.
The TSJC recalls that this type of crime against State institutions entails disqualification and ineligibility not only for a future electoral process, but also immediately.
In this case, moreover, there is the circumstance that both the judgment of the High Court and that of the TSJC are final, given that appeal to the Supreme Court has been ruled out for the latter.
The TSJC ruling indicates that the plenary agreement was based on a fully constitutional law, which makes it clear that those convicted of these crimes must resign and will not be able to stand for election, even if the sentence is not final.
At the time, the Prosecutor’s Office also considered responsible for the crime of prevarication not only the former mayor but also two deputy mayors, Cayetano Silva and Víctor Manuel García, the latter two initially sentenced to seven years of special disqualification for public office or employment, although they were finally acquitted.
Warnings and repairs ignored
The facts have their origin in the approval by the Governing Board to grant compensation of 4,220 euros to a mediator for unfair termination of the mediation contract.
At that time, the municipal secretary issued a negative report warning of the illegality of the agreement, despite which the former mayor and the two deputy mayors approved it.
The same thing happened with the auditor, who issued a complaint that went in the same direction for not following the stipulated procedure and also for having extinguished the party’s right to receive compensation since it had ceased in 2004 and the agreement was adopted in 2012.
Something similar happened with the approval to grant compensation of 300 euros to 16 officials as payment for overtime that was never paid.
In the two cases, the three defendants indicated that at most they were dealing with “administrative irregularities”, but not crimes.
Finally, in criminal proceedings, Velázquez was upheld the sentence of seven years of special disqualification from public office and the other two defendants were acquitted.
