Ivn Hernndez points to his cough as responsible for the bankruptcy of Cerca - La Provincia

More than five hours ofinterrogation. The main defendant in the so-calledJesuman case, Iván Hernández Perera, underwent an exhaustive questionnaire on Tuesdayaccusatory partiesto deny his involvement in the alleged fraud scheme, to ensure that he always wanted to pay the debts contracted with theprovidersin Gran Canaria and point to his uncles, José Ignacio and Juan Jesús Hernández Pérez, as responsible for the decapitalization of Alimentcanarias, the company of which he was sole administrator and with which he implanted, supported in 68 companies, a network of supermarkets in Gran Canaria, mainly under the brandNear, which went bankrupt as a result of the lack of solvency.

The Second Section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas hosted the second day ofjudgmentagainst the brothers Juan Jesús, José Manuel and José Ignacio Hernández Pérez - descendants of the founder of the Jesuman Group - and Iván Hernández Perera, son of José Manuel. The Prosecutor's Office accuses them of crimes of swindling, aggravated fraud and property uprising, so he asks for 17 years and six months in prison for Ivan and twelve years in prison for each of the brothers considering that the four had the "unequivocal courage" to obtain an illicit patrimonial enrichment at the expense of the majority of its suppliers ", to which they still owe 13 million.

In the year 2000, José Manuel and Iván formed the companyFoodstuffs, being the father the owner of 99% of the shares and the second the owner of the remaining 1% in addition to being a sole administrator. At all times, Ivan maintained that Comercial Jesuman did not intervene in that operation and that until the 2005 capital increase, he never used the name of his family or the family business, consolidated in Tenerife, to gain the trust of the suppliers. When an accusatory party showed him a 2003 contract with a yoghurt supplier, which included his signature as representative of Comercial Jesuman, he assured that it was a punctual event. "They did not want to sell directly to me, the spirit was not to do anything strange, my uncle authorized me to do it and at no time did he tell me anything," he said.

Of course, pointed out that Comercial Jesuman was in charge from the beginning of the accounting of this entity, as well as the management of the payroll of employees while Alimentcanarias bought the necessary merchandise to supply their supermarkets in advantageous conditions. Likewise, Iván explained to the prosecutor that the Cerca brand was registered in the name of Comercial Jesuman and not his because he did not know how to do it. "The idea was to put it in my name, but I did not know how to register it and they registered it in their name, they told me they would transfer it to me," he said, but it did not happen. The main defendant in the Jesuman case also reiterated that the billing of the establishments was paid into an account in the name of Alimentcanarias, from which he paid the payroll, to the suppliers and the orders he made to Comercial Jesuman.

To diversify the risk, solve problems of product supply and seek better prices, Hernández Pérez admitted that he created up to 68 companies, all dependent on Alimentcanarias.

According to his story, in 2005, when the capital increase was made, it was when the tables began to change. "The business was perfect," he said, and his uncle Jose Ignacio proposed to expand the capital. Hernández Perera accepted the proposal because then he understood that it was a way for the business to continue growing and to open more supermarkets. This was how Comercial Jesuman contributed three million, for which it obtained 4,992 shares.

That money was deposited in an Alimentcanarias account on March 28, 2005, but one day later it comes out of it. Iván alleged that, to his surprise, his uncle José Ignacio asked him for a specific issue of liquidity in Tenerife. Iván insisted that he does not know what Comercial Jesuman did with that money and that said amount never returned to the coffers of Alimentcanarias. He indicated, in turn, that as of that moment, Comercial Jesuman asked for higher amounts each month for supplies.

Thus, as argued, the balances of the entity were "thriving." In 2006, he stressed, he lost control of supermarkets, which came under the direction of his uncles. Hernández Perera explained then that they "directly" opened accounts of Jesuman to enter all the collection of the establishments.

Before that happened, according to his story, his uncle José Ignacio requested several transfers "to pay merchandise or alleged liquidity needs." When he did not have more money to transfer, it was when he formalized a maximum mortgage.

That money, he said, he did not use to buy the shares of Alimentcanarias that were in the hands of Jesuman. And despite the fact that the auto instruction contains a treasury stock contract, he maintained that his signature is false. Likewise, Iván maintained that his "mistake" was not to renounce the position of sole administrator of Alimentcanarias, despite the situation of non-payment to suppliers that began to be unleashed in 2006. Now, the principal investigator in this case maintains that his intention always it was the one of paying and that it sent to his uncle José Ignacio the relation of the suppliers with whom it maintained a debt so that this one was paid. When they began to close the Cerca stores, Hernández Perera tried, as he explained, to open them again to pay the debts until the situation was unsustainable and he had to abandon the activity.

Ivan answered for three hours to the questions of the prosecutor and during two others to the questions posed by the other accusatory parties, except for the questions made by the defense of Juan Pablo Castillo Bailador, to whom Hernández does not recognize the debt of 3 , 67 million in four notes. Hernández Perera explained that he used to have blank promissory notes signed for small payments when he was absent and that, perhaps, Juan Pablo Castillo filled out those documents with sums that reached 3.67 million.

The second day of the trial further evidenced the discrepancies that exist in the Hernández Pérez family. Not only because of Ivan's story, but also because before entering the oral hearing, Juan Jesús and José Ignacio wait on one side of the rooms and José Manuel and his son, on the other. Once inside, when they have no choice but to sit together in the dock, they do not address a single word.