Accusations fly over the Mountain of Money

HEIGHT OF FOLLY? The much-disputed Mount Tebeto on Fuerteventura.

A MAJOR political row has been raging for months in the Canarian regional parliament over the €100 million Mount Tebeto quarry case in Fuerteventura.

by James Tweedie

The Socialist Party of the Canaries (PSC-PSOE), regional affiliate of the current ruling party, has repeatedly attacked the joint Coalicón Canaria (CC) and Peoples’ Party (PP) regional executive over the decision to pay €101 million of taxpayers money in compensation to family-owned quarrying firm Canteras Cabo Verde S.A.

But critics point out Cabo Verde had never quarried stone at the site, and are asking why the regional government has not yet taken its appeal to the Supreme court.
PSC-PSOE regional MPs have accused CC regional President Paulino Rivero, PP vice-president José Manuel Soria and Justice and Security Minister Jose Miguel Ruano of collusion with Cabo Verde owner Rafael Bittini.

The Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Canarias (TSJC) awarded the sum in July 2008 in compensation for the cancellation of of a licence for exploration and quarrying on Mount Tebeto on Fuerteventura, which Cabo Verde had held since 1982.

On Wednesday November 4 the TSJC rejected an appeal by the Canarian government against the 2008 decision.

It gave the government just 15 days to pay the first of three installments to cabo verde, with the second and third due in 2010 and 2011.

But the court made payment conditional on guarantees of solvency from Mr Bittini’s cash-strapped firm’s bankers.

Mr Rivero optimistically described the ruling as “one more step” towards his objective to pay “not a single Euro” for Mount Tebeto.

He vowed that the government would “go on to the end” to “prevent businessmen in trouble from exploiting the resources of all the Canaries.”

However, Socialist parliamentary spokesman Santiago Perez has claimed that the government was not acting in the public interest, adding: “The whole world knows that the regional executive has let them [Cabo Verde] win in this matter and for that reason it now has to pay.”

The described the government’s latter-day revelation last month of a survey report showing Mount Tebeto to be “worthless” as “an insult to the intelligence of Parliament” and “a provocation.”

Despite the apparent worthlessness of the mountain, Cabo Verde claims that the government will get its money back as it intends to begin quarrying on Tebeto after all,

But on Wednesday PSC-PSOE Canarian Parliament industry spokesman Francisca Luengo warned that Cabo Verde and its bank were built on shifting sands.

He said: “For weeks [vice-president] Soria has been siding with Bittini and not the public interest, to defend a bank that does not at all guarantee that the Government can recover money from Tebeto even if the Supreme Court rules so.

“The mechanisms of control through international agencies regulate financial institutions and risks. The Canaries have no assurance of recouping money from Tebeto it because the financial strength of this entity is classified high risk.”

Mr Perez has gone so far as to report the compensation payment to the chief prosecutor of Las Palmas province Guillermo García Panasco as a crime.

Mr García said on Friday November 6 that pursuing Mr Perez’ charge would be “somewhat complicated,” parly because it would affect the outcome of the civil case.

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