The presiding judge of Examining Court number 5 in Estepona has ordered the case against former councillor Emilio López Berenguer to be shelved. He had been formally named as a suspect in the ‘Manilva case’, which is investigating an alleged scheme in which more than 600 workers were given jobs through connections at the Town Hall of the Costa del Sol municipality.
The judge concluded that the commission of the offence initially attributed to the former councillor had not been duly established. López Berenguer is no longer under investigation in this case and has been summoned as a witness, as shown by documentation seen by SUR.
In view of this, the Marbella Public Prosecutor’s Office, which in its provisional conclusions had accused López Berenguer and sought a ban from public office for him, has amended its submission and withdrawn the charge against the former councillor.
This case is investigating an alleged patronage network designed to win the support of Manilva residents and secure a lasting hold on the Town Hall. This is how the Public Prosecutor’s Office considers that the town’s former mayor, Antonia Muñoz, acted together with other councillors of the municipality, who it maintains gave jobs to hundreds of workers at the Town Hall in order to obtain their votes in elections and be re-elected permanently.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office is seeking to put the former mayor and former councillors Diego Díaz and Francisco Medina on trial, requesting a 15-year ban from public office for them. Also accused in the proceedings is Aitor Menoyo, who was hired by Muñoz as a legal adviser, for whom a 10-year ban is sought.
In its provisional conclusions, seen by Diario Sur, the Public Prosecutor’s Office refers to article 91 of Law 7/1985 of 2 April, regulating the Bases of Local Government. It thereby recalls that public job offers must be made through open competition, examination, or a combination of the two, guaranteeing the principles of equality, merit, ability and publicity.
Following this account, the Public Prosecutor’s Office insists that the defendants, in full knowledge of the aforementioned rules and in their capacity as elected officials, signed contracts on behalf of both Manilva Town Hall and various bodies in which the Town Hall was represented, breaching current regulations in every case. It says this was done with the aim of creating a patronage network of voters that would guarantee the governing party’s continuation in power during those years.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office then details some of the cases of jobs given through connections, all of them between 2007 and 2013. It states that Muñoz, as mayor (she won the elections standing for Izquierda Unida in 1999), and councillor Diego Díaz, as head of the Human Resources department, signed contracts on behalf of Manilva Town Hall.
Specifically, there were 900 contracts, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which points out that they were signed with a total of 602 workers. It insists that no selection process was carried out, there was no advertising or budget allocation, and the principles of equality, merit and ability were not respected.
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