The Port hires lawyers for 45,000 euros to defend Ibarra, Trujillo and Rodríguez

At the beginning of March, the three investigated sent a letter to the president requesting the hiring of this service. In the case of Trujillo and Rodríguez, Calzada will justify today that this hiring should be made since they are public employees of the Port Authority while, with Ibarra, he is included because the events included in the complaint occurred when he was president. However, There is controversy among the employees of the organization who criticize that the public treasury has to take charge of the defense of a person who today is outside the Port Authority. In addition, they point out that there is a conflict of interest when the Port Authority is responsible for paying the lawyers, because the promoter of the complaint is also a public employee and has the same right.

The resolution that is being brought to the board of directors today states that the interested parties sought different offers from lawyers, two of them from Las Palmas, but They finally opted for the Madrid office despite the higher price since payment for travel to the Canary Islands is added to the payment for the services.

The Port Authority of Las Palmas pays 120,000 euros each year to the State Attorney’s Office to provide representation and defense services, including criminal proceedings, when situations of this type arise. However, On this occasion, the State Attorney’s Office has not been requested to defend the defense for two reasons., according to close sources. On the one hand, there is a conflict of interest, as noted above, and on the other, the actions for which they are being criminally investigated did not take place in the lawful performance of their duties. According to the sources consulted, if both requirements are not met, their defense should not be covered with public money. In fact, part of the complaint is based on statements made by Ibarra personally before different media outlets.

Regarding the first point, it is about public employees against public employees of the same organization, with which favored treatment is given to two of them -Trujillo and Rodríguez- in front of the head of Public Domain who filed the complaint and is supposedly the victim of the actions investigated by the Court. Despite these circumstances, Calzada today brings the hiring of this office to ratification at a rate of 15,000 euros for each of those investigated.

This situation has once again generated unrest among the organization’s employees and its most representative unions, according to close sources, who are confident that the matter will not go ahead.

The Port Council will also take today the resolution on the competition process initiated after requesting Hamilton and company a plot of almost 27,000 square meterss for the start-up of a car silo in the Port. In principle and given that no other option has been presented, everything indicates that it will be granted.

The call for the competition to expand the Sports Pier, which is called for the second time after the first time – during Luis Ibarra’s time – was deserted. The competition is for the comprehensive exploitation of the dock and includes the construction of new infrastructure under a public domain concession regime.