Man investigated for forging sick mother's signature to start construction of 468 apartments in Gran Canaria
A judge in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has launched an investigation into claims that a man forged his 83-year-old mother’s signature while she was suffering from severe dementia, allowing a developer to move ahead with the construction of 468 new homes in Guanarteme. The accusation has thrown one of the capital’s biggest ongoing residential projects into uncertainty.
The complaint was filed by the woman’s other son, who alleges a calculated plan to exploit her vulnerability, drain her finances, and legitimise deals she was incapable of approving. He accuses his brother and a lawyer of orchestrating a “fraudulent scheme” that not only stripped the elderly woman of her assets but also paved the way for a multimillion-euro land transfer she may never have understood or consented to.
Judge Javier García García-Sotoca is now investigating possible crimes of misappropriation, disloyal administration, and document forgery. Early findings raise troubling questions: the signatures on key agreements from 2021 and 2022 reportedly differ from the one on her national ID, despite medical reports confirming she was already incapable of recognising her own children, let alone signing legal contracts.
The victim, who had run a long-standing garage and vehicle maintenance business on the plots, suffered a sharp cognitive decline from 2016 onwards. A forensic report issued in late 2023 concluded she had “permanent and irreversible dementia” and lacked any “sufficient understanding of reality.” Despite this, she was allegedly signed into deals worth millions, including nearly €400,000 in legal fees and a €1.92 million compensation payment to end her historic land lease.
Investigators are also examining more than €600,000 in unexplained withdrawals from a joint bank account shared between the elderly woman and the son under investigation. Prosecutors intervened after he failed to justify the transactions, prompting concerns of deliberate asset stripping.
The judge has now ordered statements from the developers involved in the land transfer and commissioned a forensic handwriting expert to analyse the disputed signatures. If the court confirms the signature was forged, the entire land deal could be declared invalid, meaning it would halt or even reverse the high-profile residential development already under construction.
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