The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court has issued a ruling that definitively settles a jurisdictional dispute between courts on the Spanish mainland and in the Canary Islands. The judicial decision, against which there is no appeal and to which Maspalomas24H has had access, compels the First Investigating Court of San Bartolomé de Tirajana to immediately reactivate its preliminary proceedings. The ruling shifts the focus of a complex shareholder battle back to the offices and servers of the economic engine of the southern islands.
The High Court has ruled that the investigation of the alleged crime of discovery and disclosure of secrets affecting a major corporate network in southern Gran Canaria must be carried out in the judicial district of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, rejecting the claims that the case should be taken over by the courts of the Valencian Community.
The Criminal Chamber's ruling addresses the jurisdictional conflict that arose between the Investigating Section of the Court of First Instance in Valencia (Plaza number 12) and its counterpart in San Bartolomé de Tirajana (Plaza number 1). The criminal case originated from a complaint filed by a senior executive of a conglomerate of associated companies headquartered in the Canary Island tourist municipality. The affected executive reported the unauthorized interception, extraction, and dissemination of his corporate emails, directly attributing this digital espionage to two other shareholders of the companies.
The suspects in the corporate hacking case have their professional address within the judicial district of San Bartolomé de Tirajana. A key forensic analysis conducted during the preliminary proceedings determined that the unauthorized access and the dumping of confidential information were carried out from computers physically located within the jurisdiction of the Canary Islands court. Despite this, the investigating court of San Bartolomé de Tirajana initially attempted to transfer the case to Valencia, citing arguments related to alleged related fraud offenses.
The Valencian court refused to take on the case, creating a deadlock that forced the Supreme Court to intervene to resolve the jurisdictional dispute. The judge who drafted the ruling, Andrés Martínez Arrieta, strictly aligned himself with the opinion issued by the prosecutor in the case, Álvaro Redondo. The Public Prosecutor's Office argued that the only connection between this technology fraud and the Valencian Community was the mere fact that it was the place of residence of the victim who filed the complaint.
The Supreme Court's ruling bases its decision on Article 14.2 of the procedural criminal law and the preferential criteria of the Criminal Procedure Law, which establish the location where the crime was committed as the primary jurisdiction for the investigation of cybercrimes. The Court confirms that the core elements of the offense—the geographical area where the secret data was unlawfully discovered, extracted, and disclosed—were located in southern Gran Canaria.
