The trial against the former mayor of Sant Antoni, José Tur Cires, and the former councilor of Urbanism, Cristina María Ribas, has been scheduled for sentencing at the Provincial Court of Palma.
The Prosecutor’s Office has maintained its position that there was no crime of prevarication in the revocation of the permit for the installation of a beach bar in Cala Gració in 2018. According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the decision was taken based on technical reports and not with the intention of harming the concessionaire company.
A change of criterion supported by technical reports
The defense of the defendants has insisted that the revocation of the permit was not a capricious decision, but the result of reports prepared by municipal technicians who detected irregularities in the project. Among them, the lack of a specific work authorization and the erroneous classification of the land, which was initially considered urban when in fact it had rustic protection.
The prosecutor has stressed that rectifying an administrative act upon detection of errors does not imply prevarication. “Otherwise, any correction in municipal management could be interpreted as a crime, which makes no sense,” she argued.
The prosecution argues that it acted in an arbitrary manner
The affected company, on the other hand, has defended that the withdrawal of the permit was a political decision disguised as a technical procedure. Its lawyer has assured that the reports used to justify the revocation were prepared after the City Council received pressure from neighbors and that the proper administrative procedure was not followed.
The private prosecution has questioned why, if the company was in breach of regulations, a sanctioning proceeding was not initiated. In their opinion, the Consistory simply decided to block the installation of the chiringuito without offering a remedy.
A case that confronts legal criteria
The origin of the conflict dates back to 2017, when the Demarcation of Coasts of the Balearic Islands authorized the installation of the beach bar in Cala Gració. In April 2018, the City Council of Sant Antoni granted the municipal permit, but a month later revoked it on the grounds that a certificate of completion of works was missing.
Now, the courts will have to determine whether the action of the City Council was a legitimate administrative management or an arbitrary decision that harmed the concessionaire company. With the prosecution and the defense on the same line, the court’s resolution will mark the outcome of a case that has been surrounded by controversy from the beginning.
