This news isn't from southern Gran Canaria, but we're reporting it because there's an information blackout in Las Palmas, and the public has a right to know about the work of judicial officials in the service of democracy. What began as a local complaint on the island of Fuerteventura has transformed this January 2026 into the biggest legal and reputational challenge for the energy sector in the history of the archipelago and Spain for an oil company. The Las Palmas Public Prosecutor's Office has launched a torpedo at the heart of Cepsa (now renamed Moeve), requesting fines exceeding 13 million euros and, in an unprecedented legal move, the "dissolution" of the company for massive and systematic tax fraud. A company from Fuerteventura is the complainant, and the Canary Islands Government is acting as a private prosecutor in a case where officials from the Canary Islands Tax Authority are among those charged.
The indictment filed by prosecutor Tomás Fernández de Páiz describes a "deliberate and systematic" operation carried out through its subsidiary Petrocan. Between 2016 and 2021, the oil company allegedly imported diesel to the islands under the trade name "Diesel Oil Industrial," but declared it to the Canary Islands Tax Agency as fuel oil. The tax difference is enormous. While diesel is taxed at €222 per 1.000 liters, fuel oil (a lower-quality fuel used in large ships or power plants) is taxed at a mere 56 cents per metric ton.
This administrative "alchemy" allowed the company to illegally avoid paying €7,7 million to the regional treasury, with fraud peaking at over €2,3 million in 2019 alone. The accusation doesn't only target the company. The Public Prosecutor's Office is requesting an additional 28-year prison sentence and €25 million in fines for María Inés Martínez, head of the company's Indirect Taxes Department, whom they identify as the mastermind behind the fraudulent wholesale distribution strategy.
However, the most damaging aspect for the Canary Islands institutions is the involvement of the Canary Islands Tax Agency itself. According to the prosecutor, the agency turned a deaf ear on three separate occasions to complaints filed by the company IR Maxoinversiones from Fuerteventura. Three high-ranking officials, including the current Deputy Director of Large Taxpayers, face disqualification from public office for failing to prosecute crimes, having allowed 28 months of inaction while the fraud continued to drain public funds.
The Public Prosecutor's Office has decided to apply the strict measures provided for in the Criminal Code for aggravated economic crimes: Suspension of Activity: The cessation of the company's operations is requested for four years. And corporate death penalty: For five of the six crimes against the Public Treasury, the definitive dissolution of the company is requested.
This case transcends the legal sphere, becoming a stability issue for the Canary Islands government. At a time when the region is fighting for greater fiscal autonomy and efficient management of European funds, the revelation that its own Canary Islands Tax Agency ignored substantial complaints against one of its largest taxpayers is devastating. For Moeve (Cepsa), the rebranding cannot mask the fact that its future in the Atlantic—not only for the supply of cars but also for ships and aircraft—now rests in the hands of a court that must decide whether to apply the most severe sanction under Spanish commercial law. If the giant falls, energy supply and logistics in the Canary Islands would enter uncharted territory.
