Agroaldea
An anonymous complaint led to the inspection of warehouses attached to this company, of which the Cabildo de Tenerife is the main shareholder, and the file opened to clarify what happened.
The director of the Canary Institute of agro-food quality, Alfonso Juan Lopez, confirmed that on Thursday they received a “anonymous complaint” through which the acquisition of some 100.000 liters of wine from La Mancha for an amount close to 19.000 EUR, that were paid in cash.
“The inspectors went to Bodegas Insulares, They asked for the documentation and the Cabildo is cooperating fully. It is the usual procedure in these cases and we are developing it accordingly”, clarified the director of the ICCA.
According to other sources, The Institute obtained the precise data from the Tax Agency “to compare container entry documentation”. In fact, “that wine arrived in four containers, at least”.
The procedure that the wine followed on the Island culminated with its sale under the Viña Donia brand., “but in unlabeled bottles”. Fundamentally, This broth is distributed in the Canary Islands hotel market through a marketing company.
The director of the Canarian Institute of Agri-Food Quality assured that “We are not here to make political evaluations of this., but to clarify if something has happened, What has happened and what should be the consequences?”.
“We are not going to continue putting up with cacicadas or José Joaquín Bethencourt (insular advisor of Agriculture), nor of Carlos Alonso (President of the Cabildo) nor of any. This is over. If you want to find out, GOOD; but, they will do it in court, but we will not tolerate this situation anymore. What we do not need is unfair competition and persecution from this administration”, assured Juan Jesús Méndez, president of Bodegas Viñátigo and secretary of the Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of the Canary Islands (Avibo) and the Protected Designation of Origin (DOP) Quality Wines from the Canary Islands.
He did it last February, going so far as to state that “The Cabildo acts outside the law” why “He becomes a winemaker with everyone's financial resources” at the Tenerife Island Winery, “that uses infrastructure worth more than 10 million euros for which it does not pay a user fee. This is unfair competition and an illegal situation that we have already conveyed to you.. A politician who knowingly persists in illegality is a prevaricator”.
On the other hand, the Minister of Agriculture of the Cabildo of Tenerife, José Joaquín Bethencourt, assured yesterday that the invoice on which the anonymous complaint is based “it's true” and that he ordered an internal information file to clarify what happened. “It is true that a purchase was made to rectify bulk wine that is sold as table wine and that does not enter the quality wine circuit.”.
Bethencourt clarified: “I didn't know and I don't like that purchase, but I want to wait to know the result of the file to make a proposal to the Board of Directors”, something to which “The information file opened by the Canarian Institute of Agri-Food Quality will also help”, he added. The island councilor also indicated that the file will allow clarifying “how many purchases and how much quality of bulk wine have been made”.