AIFOS’s owners acquitted by the Court

06 Jul AIFOS’s owners acquitted by the Court

The Malaga’s provincial High Court has acquitted Jesús Ruiz and his wife Teresa Maldonado, the owners of the real estate developer company AIFOS, previously accused by the prosecution as perpetrators of crimes of fraud and criminal offence against consumer’s rights, for selling 16 to-be-developed apartments at  Rincón de la Victoria, Fuengirola and Torrox that never came to be delivered. The public prosecutor had requested a punishment of four years in prison for both.

The Judgment determines that the defendants did not act with the intention of deceiving, in spite of apartments were not actually built in 20 months as per the commitment in the purchase contract. Here, it has been explained, they made different formalities aimed at promoting the land where the promotions had to be arisen but for different reasons those did not lead to the planned end. In addition, the verdict highlights that the company returned the amounts that had been delivered on account, and in cases when this did not happen it was exclusively due to expressed renunciation from the client.

In any case, the statement indicates that the contract is breached since the dwellings were not made available to customers in the agreed term. But this circumstance is not prosecutable according to criminal law, but to the civilian one and, more specifically, on the contest of the Administration procedure based on insolvency proceeding now taking place for the real estate promoter AIFOS.

The defendants’ attorney highlighted the value of this judgment as legal precedent for similar proceedings which are pending in different courts by similar facts. He has also emphasised that a “public lynching” against the owners of AIFOS has become evident in spite of ” Jesús Ruiz, his wife, Teresa Maldonado or their real estate promoter company have never been convicted in criminal offence.”

AIFOS is in the process of judicial administration since July of last year. Administrators have recognized 6,000 creditors and a debt approaching 900 million Euros, an amount not containing a large quantity forming part of a debt accumulated with the buyers of apartments since these credits are considered not yet due until the purchase contracts are completed or a judicial judgment is dictated.