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ePaper created 2014-06-22, 15:43:25 | version 1.31.00
18 News, Views & Sunshine TheCanaryNews.com El Periódico Inglés de Gran Canaria Summer 2014 Last July 76 members of the English speaking community were detained without charge, in a much publicised operation by the Drugs and Organised Crime Unit of the Policía Nacional of Las Palmas, a sort of modern-day vice squad, as part of what was said to be, at some time after the start of the raid, a la- bour inspection looking for employment irregularities, 50 or so officers joined the Las Palmas province deputy inspector of employment in a surprise lock down of the little-known Puerto Atlantico building in the tranquil, fishing port-cum-tourist town of Arguineguín on the south of Gran Canaria. Police officers blocked the exits and made all of the people that they found inside the various offices on the ground floor, and on the 6th floor roof terrace, stay in their seats and give details of their names, positions and work schedules, presumably while the deputy inspector took a long hard look at the files on site. Several of the employees were brought to police holding cells where, it is claimed, they were subjected to intimidating be- haviour, cramped conditions, intimate searches and where the only facilities provided were non-private, forcing anyone who wanted to use the lavatory, over the several hours they were held without charge, to do so in front of their coworkers. When the labour inspector left the Puerto Atlántico premises, around 2 hours later, it appears he had discovered nothing out of place. However a large number of police officers remained behind, without saying why, and of those being held at Puerto Atlantico, most were not allowed to leave before 5.30 that evening, with some, we are told, being held until gone 9pm. The CEO of one of the companies involved is a locally well- known business man, named Eugen Kaiser, who has been oper- ating in Gran Canaria for nigh on 20 years. This was not the first time he had been arrested without charge in this type of sting operation, in which members of the local press appeared to have already been briefed prior to action being taken. And due to his varied, and sometimes controversial, business interests he was already very aware that he had in the past made power- ful enemies on the island. He immediately suspected who the protagonists might be in this latest episode. Knowing that Spanish law does not allow for a private premises to be searched without a court order, he requested sight of that order, only to be told that it was coming. It never came. What we now know is that the raid, which started at 11am, was based on a denuncia received the preceding evening, at around 7pm on the Sunday night, and the subject of a request for a search order which was not placed in front of a judge until 1pm that same day. The judge, quite correctly, was not willing to be rushed into rubber stamping a request like that and so announced no decision until the following morning, after he had had an opportunity to review the facts, of which the few he found appeared to him rather lacking. Consequently the request was denied pending further investigation. By this time of course much damage had already been done. Somehow the local Spanish press had received a full briefing with regard to the mass arrest of a group of alleged “Timesharing” scammers, and the “dismantling” of an “organised crimi- nal gang in the south” of Gran Canaria. Though the majority of the employees were released later that same evening having gone through, what one of them de- scribed starkly as, “the worst ordeal I have ever endured”, Mr Kaiser and several of his top managers were detained over two nights and days while evidence of their supposed criminal activ- ity was sought. None was found. They were released and an investigation ordered by the judge. Mr Kaiser announced that the damage to his company was ir- reparable and consequently that he would have to terminate the employment of more than 60 people. The damage, he said, extended far beyond his business and the network of compa- nies within which he operates, but that it would have a direct effect not only on the “discount holiday” market locally, but ad- versely affect confidence in the industry as a whole, as well as depriving dependent service industries, such as up to 500 local taxis a week that his company employed to transport prospects and clients to and from his sales operation in Puerto Atlantico. At the end of April, nine months later, the magistrate Julio Luis Wood Rodríguez, after a long investigation, announced that the operation had been completely without merit and ordered that the Chief Officer of the Drugs and Organised Crime unit be asked to give evidence as to how such an event could take place without any proper investigation or evidence, and with- out judicial authorisation. Mr Kaiser has suggested an irregular relationship between the force and an ex-police officer named Alberto Garcia, who has himself been reportedly working for rival timeshare companies over the last ten years, and who CLEANINGUP... “Police officers blocked the exits... the employees were brought to police holding cells...” Special Report ... Special Report ... Special Report ... Special Report ... Special R