The First Section of the Provincial Court of Palma celebrates from this Monday (09.45 hours) and until Thursday the trial against the former mayor of Sant Antoni, José Tur, for allegedly stopping the installation of a removable beach bar in Cala Gració in 2018.
The Prosecutor’s Office requests that both Tur and the then councilor of Urbanism, Cristina María Ribas, also indicted, be acquitted of the crime of prevarication of which they are accused. As the prosecutor recounts in his brief of provisional conclusions, on May 23, 2018, the Department of Urbanism and Activities of the City Council of Sant Antoni de Portmany issued a decree warning the damaged company that it could not start its activity, despite the fact that it had initially received permission, as long as a municipal certificate of completion of works was not issued. This decree was drawn up after an agreement of the Municipal Governing Board dated April 25, which granted the same company the installation permit it had previously requested. Specifically, for the occupation of maritime-terrestrial public domain property through the placement of removable facilities – consisting of a bar, a bathroom, a wooden platform, 11 tables and 38 chairs – in thearea of Cala Gració and for a period of four years, between 2017 and 2020. This decision, moreover, was endorsed by the resolution issued in July 2017 by the Coastal Demarcation of the Balearic Islands, which gave the green light to the installation. In any case, the Public Prosecutor’s Office points out, the defendants supported their decision to disallow the installation in two reports prepared by a municipal architect and an urban planning inspector, in which they warned ofthe irregularities presented by the project of the beach bar and questioned its adaptation to what was truly authorized. Thus, the prosecutor considers that it has not been proven that the change of criterion regarding the legality of the concession was motivated by his intention to harm the company through an unfair decision and that, therefore, the facts described do not constitute a crime and should be acquitted.
