The Investigating Court Number 2 of La Laguna has decreed the provisional dismissal and the filing of the complaint filed, in May 2021, by Alfredo Gómez, currently a councilor not attached to the La Laguna City Council and at that time mayor of Citizens and president of the City Council’s Transparency Commission, against the mayor of La Laguna, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez, and several local government councilors (Badel Albelo, Yaiza López, Carla Cabrera and Alejandro Marrero) for alleged “finger contracts” ordered from the City hall. The complaint was subsequently joined by Francisco José Hernández and Jonathan Domínguez, councilors of the Canary Islands Coalition.
“We received the complaint file with great satisfaction. It demonstrates what we defended from minute one: The Laycas Case does not exist. From the outset it was a political maneuver, perfectly orchestrated, to damage the image of this mayor and this government group and achieve in court what was not achieved at the polls. Fortunately, it has not been of any use to them”, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez assessed yesterday.
Alfredo Gómez had denounced an alleged “client network that lasted at least two years, with hand-picked contracts based on family and friendship relationships.” However, the order states that, “in the opinion of this examining body, the administrative praxis has not been deviated in any of the signed contracts and, therefore, in the respective decrees.” “Thus, I do not understand that the administrative procedure has been violated at the criminal level,” says the magistrate.
Specifically, as explained in the order, “it appears in the files that “offers” were made by various companies […] and in the others, as has been explained, there were favorable reports from the officials/technicians of the corresponding areas on the “non-divisions”, as well as the adjudication proposals, which led to the respective decrees”. “Even in which there were reports of appearances of subdivision -he continues-, they were reviewed, and after reports and proposals of conformity, and only then, the corresponding decree was issued. Several were even brought to the Comptroller’s report, and only after obtaining the approval or approval did the decree end”.
In addition, regarding the “network of sentimental ties, deep friendships, kinship relationships” denounced by the plaintiffs, the magistrate affirms that “they have not been accredited because the event itself did not occur or because they fabricated about contracts with siblings or parents ”. Thus, in the order, the magistrate dismantles the alleged family relationships denounced between some of the councilors with several of the contracted companies, and denies that they exist.
Likewise, analyzing the participation of the defendants, the magistrate affirms, with respect to the mayor, that after examining all the decrees provided, as allegedly criminal, “there is no record of any signed by him” and his friendship with the administrator of one of the companies “does not It has been accredited beyond social networks, which does not make one imagine that because of those photos at public events and for the sake of that friendship they have led him to prevaricate ”.
“Big lie”
Luis Yeray Gutiérrez affirmed yesterday that he remembered that press conference in May 2021, “in which not only all the opposition spokesmen were present, but even a representative of a neighborhood federation, and in which we were openly accused of immorality, crimes of prevarication, having hired friends and family by hand. And what is more serious, accusing companies hired by this administration”.
“In these two years we have had to endure continuous attacks, many times on a personal level, including my own family. Today it is demonstrated that all the accusations were built on the basis of a big lie. We always defended our management. We maintained at all times that our work was endorsed by municipal technicians. And the judge agrees with us, ”she maintained.
“I only hope – he added – that those who accused us with impunity, and those who joined that complaint trying to achieve political gain, ask for forgiveness. Not to this mayor, not to this government group, but to my family and the citizens”.
