Ortiz to face trial

News Staff Reporter CONTROVERSIAL developer Enrique Ortiz and five other prominent businessmen have been ordered to appear in court in Alicante on January 19, 2016 for a three-day trial into allegations of tax fraud.

Public prosecutors have alleged that Sr Ortiz, along with Rafael Galea, Miguel Ballester, Miguel Carratalá, Vicente Pérez Cañas and Aurelio González Villarejo falsified property deals involving land in the Playa San Juan area in order to reduce their tax liabilities.

They added that the six accused conned the tax man out of more than €6 million and are demanding prison sentences of four years and six months for each of the accused plus a fine of €10m.

Sr Ortiz has been named as the mastermind behind the scheme which involved the renting of nine rustic plots in Playa San Juan owned by Hansa Urban to Construcciones Villarejo y Obras Asfálticas y Construcciones for a period of five years at a cost of €1.5m for each plot, plus VAT of €24,000 for each one.

A clause in the rental contract stipulated that the plots could not be used for agricultural purposes and that the contracts would be terminated when the plots were reclassified for urban development.

Public prosecutors say that the contracts were just a smokescreen and the plots were never used for any purpose other than to provide the paperwork necessary to apply for tax deductions.

They also said that the money paid in advance to rent the plots of land was in fact a deposit on their future purchase by Enrique Ortiz who paid €37 million for them just six months after the rental agreements were signed.

Prosecutors added that by simulating the rental agreements Hansa Urbano applied a tax reduction of over €6m to which it was not entitled, while Sr Ortiz applied for reduced VAT payments.