Yesterday, the Provincial Court of Santa Cruz held the initial session of a trial against the former manager of the Strasse Park bar, located in García Sanabria Park. This individual is accused of transferring the business concession without notifying the new owners that the electricity connection was illegal and that there were outstanding invoices amounting to nearly 90,000 euros, with current pending payments rising to 150,000 euros.
One of the recent owners spoke during the session, stating that they were not made aware of the illegal connection or the existence of debts and the need for works to regularise the situation. It was only after they were contacted by the city hall of the capital that they learned of the circumstances.
The previous owners had devised a plan to carry out the installation, estimated to cost 29,000 euros, but this plan had various deficiencies that were never addressed. The execution of the work would require a budget of at least 70,000 euros, and since the kiosk is located in an area designated as an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC), permission from the Island Council was necessary.
Guillermo Díaz Guerra, the current manager of Urban Planning and former councillor of Municipal Services, recounted the conversation in which the concession buyers were informed about the actual condition of the kiosk, the accumulated debts, and the necessity of the works; otherwise, their supply would be disconnected.
The former councillor remarked that the businessman’s reaction was notable as “he seemed paralysed, he didn’t even blink,” and explained that it was at that moment he insisted on payment due to his promotion of an electricity savings policy, being astonished by the park’s significant bill in 2020, following the lockdown caused by the pandemic.
Upon learning the actual state of the Strasse Park kiosk, the buyer expressed shock at the amount of money they would have to pay and the fact that they had not been informed prior to the purchase.
The other partner mentioned that if they had been aware of this information, they would not have proceeded or would have approached it under very different terms, as the contract included a clause that assured there were no pending debts.
The new owners asserted that the concession expired last September, and they are awaiting a new one. The business had consistently been profitable except during the pandemic, although they later received subsidies amounting to 71,000 euros.
The Prosecutor’s Office is seeking a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for the previous concessionaire of the aforementioned bar for a crime of fraud, following a report made by the current concession holders. They stated in the first session of the trial that they had not been informed of the accumulated debt from electricity expenses from 2014 until mid-2021.
The Court is set to continue the second session of the case today, with new witnesses scheduled to testify.
