The separate strand of the so-called «Manilva Case» continues its proceedings with preliminary hearings held this morning, 11 years after the complaint from the works council that began the whole procedure and investigations was filed.
The defence teams’ attempts to have it suspended have been of little use, and on 27 September the case will continue with the questioning of the defendants, followed on 11 October by witnesses and reports.
Four mayors of the municipality sat in the dock this morning in courtroom number 1 of Criminal Court number 6. The session dragged on throughout the morning because of submissions from the defence teams, who presented various pleas requesting its suspension.
The strand being heard today concerned the investigation into the awarding of contracts to people with family ties to the former mayor, specifically her husband, for the payment of invoices for works and services «in which the requirements demanded by the regulations applicable to the awarding procedure were not met».
The prosecution states that after the elections of May 2007, the then mayor for IU, «taking advantage of this position and conspiring with her then husband, proceeded to award minor contracts verbally in favour of the company», set up by both of them in 2005, «for the provision of certain services, knowing that she was breaching legal requirements».
The indictment states that this was done «without any administrative contracting files, without a proposal and without approval of the expenditure», as the then spouse «submitted to the Town Hall invoices for services already provided, thus breaching the requirements set by law», and that the Intervention department had also raised objections over a lack of budget allocation.
Although the mayor had the powers to authorise this spending, she delegated them to the governing board, «of which the rest of the defendants were members in their capacity as councillors, who, being fully aware of the unlawfulness of the contracting and knowing of the marital relationship, proceeded to approve the invoices submitted«.
According to the prosecutor, many of the invoices approved by the governing board bore the signature of Mario Jiménez, the current mayor of Manilva. «Likewise, the defendants conspired to award other contracts verbally in which all administrative procedure was completely dispensed with in their awarding«, the document says, which also details other invoices in the name of a company belonging to another relative.
Besides Muñoz and her husband, V.C.S., the defendants are the current mayor, Mario Jiménez Rodríguez, and the current Cleaning councillor Francisca López; the former mayors Diego Urieta Jiménez and Emilio López Berenguer; and the former Cleaning and Human Resources councillors Antonio de Haro Fernández and Diego Díaz Jiménez, respectively.
Outside courtroom number 1 of the Criminal Court, two other former mayors of the town, Diego José Jiménez and Salvador Zotano, were left waiting to give evidence as witnesses. Due to lack of time they could not be questioned, and their appearances have been postponed to 11 October.
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