25 people were arrested Tuesday in a new swoop against real estate corruption in Estepona, including the Socialist Mayor, Antonio Barrientos
25 people were arrested Tuesday in a new swoop against real estate corruption in Estepona, including the Socialist Mayor, Antonio Barrientos and several councillors. Also in custody are the municipal architect Arturo Cebrián, the Councillor for Hacienda , Francisco Zamorano.Police sources indicate that the operation comes following an investigation into allegedly irregular financing in the Town Hall.
Agents from the Economic and Financial Crime UDEF specialist unit of the National Police started searching the Town Hall early in the morning after the investigation, started by a court in Estepona in 2006 with the support of the Málaga Prosecutors’ Office, had established evidence by using telephone taps. When the size of the case, codenamed ‘astapa’ became apparent, the Attorney General, Cándido Conde-Pumpido, was brought in, who, after reading the reports, passed it to the Anti Corruption Prosecutors Office in MálagaThe Town Hall’s town planning and tax offices were also searched today, as was the Mayor’s home in the Bahía Azul urbanisation. The Mayor left his home under arrest at 2pm, in the company of members of the National Police. We was taken to the Town Hall where a crowd had gathered and who greeted him with booing.Those arrested face charges of influence peddling, perversion of the course of justice and money laundering, in a case which sources say is linked to the re-classification of land in the municipality for building. The allegation is that local land was sold to several companies at prices far lower than the market rate, and that those councillors who signed the deals received an economic benefit in exchange.
Share story
0 comments:
Post a Comment