FractionsCourt summons Eugenia Martinez de Irujo on fiscal complaint against 8 wells near Dunayana Doli

In the Court of First Instance and Investigation No. 1 in Sanlúcar la Mayor (Seville), Eugenia Martínez de Irujo, Duchess of Montoro, was summoned to testify after a complaint by the Public Prosecutor's Office about a possible crime against the environment related to the illegal withdrawal of water from a farm in the Doñana neighborhood. The complaint is against Eurotecnica Agraria SA and its legal representative, Andalusian Supreme Court sources said.

The complaint states that the company's board of directors includes several brothers from the Alba family, including the president, Cayetano and Fernando José Martínez de Irujo Fitz-James Stewart, and Luis Martínez de Irujo Hoenlove-Langenburg. The incident took place at the farm 'Aljobar' in the municipality of Aznalcazar (Seville), which is owned by Eurotecnica Agraria SA with its legal address in the Liria Palace on Princesa Street in Madrid, according to a complaint by the prosecutor's office available to EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA and previously published in the newspaper 'El País'.

The same magazine reported a few days ago on another complaint by the prosecutor's office against businessman and former matador Miguel Baez, known as 'El Litri', about the alleged environmental devastation of the Doñana reservoir while irrigating its 360 hectares with olive trees through four illegal wells. The former bullfighter is accused of extracting more than 2 billion liters of water without a permit over a four-year period. We are talking about 8 illegal wells.

The Alba family farm, according to the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Council, has a permit for irrigation through one well for 200 hectares of citrus and a permit for a second well for domestic use. Both wells should be equipped with a meter to monitor the amount of water consumed.

The events under investigation date back to last May, when an inspection by the Civilization Guard and the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Council found 8 unregistered wells on these lands that were being used to irrigate about 200 hectares of orange trees, along with two registered wells and a reservoir.

It was decided to remove the installed pumps and seal the wells as precautions, but the owner's representative refused access to the farm to apply these measures, leading to an additional charge of the crime of disobedience, in addition to the crime against the environment of unlawful withdrawal of water, "without prejudice to further and more precise legal qualification," the complaint said.

The Environmental Prosecutor's Office is developing an informational report on the total irrigation area and existing crops over the past 10 years during which the challenged wells on the farm under investigation were allegedly used and the minimum amount of water that could have been illegally withdrawn. "Such a report has not yet been received and is pending," the complaint states. This report must determine whether the illegal withdrawal of water could have caused substantial harm to the quality of the affected aquifer, whether the withdrawal could have seriously impaired its equilibrium, or even caused a "risk of serious harm to human health." In addition, an "economic assessment of damages will be made based on the amount necessary to restore the area to its original condition," the complaint said.

The illegal wells were temporarily sealed and the illegally installed pumps were removed. A bond is also required to guarantee public liability. Last September, the National Security Auditorium prosecutor's office launched preliminary investigations into environmental liability for withdrawing water without permits from an aquifer that supplies Doñana National Park. These actions are being carried out to ensure the effective implementation of the June 2021 judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union, which recognized that Spain had failed to comply with its obligations regarding the protection of Doñana Park. In addition, these actions come at a time when a bill to regulate 750 hectares of irrigation in the northern zone of the park remains frozen in Parliament.