Fourteen years after a complaint put the Guardia Civil on the trail of alleged corrupt conduct at Manilva Town Hall, this Friday sees the completion of the trilogy of cases from an investigation that centred on the Izquierda Unida governing team. The now former mayor, Antonia Muñoz, along with three successors and three councillors, face a total request of 16 years in prison and 32 years of disqualification for allegedly awarding almost fifty contracts irregularly to the husband of the then mayor. He will also have to sit in the dock in a case of administrative misconduct (prevaricación). Sources from the High Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA) explained that the oral hearings are scheduled to begin with the testimony of the defendants and to continue exactly one week later with the statements of the witnesses. Criminal Court number 6 will try a total of eight defendants, for each of whom the Public Prosecutor’s Office is seeking two years in prison and four years’ disqualification from holding any public post or office.
Among the defendants is, once again, the current mayor Mario Jiménez, who, together with other fellow members of the council from various political parties, allegedly authorised in the Local Government Board the payments to the company of the then mayor’s husband. During this administrative procedure «the requirements demanded by the regulations were not followed», the Public Prosecutor’s Office stated in its indictment, which claims that Muñoz, «taking advantage of her position, and colluding with her husband, proceeded to award minor contracts verbally in favour of the company for the provision of certain services». All of this, «in the knowledge that they were failing to comply with the legal requirements». The Prosecutor’s Office accuses the councillors, some of whom are still in office despite the various cases hanging over them, of having «proceeded to approve the invoices submitted» even though they were «perfectly aware of the unlawfulness of the contracting» and knew of «the marital relationship existing» between the mayor and the awardee of the contracts.
The company under investigation was set up by the two of them in 2005, and the Judicial Police officers of the Guardia Civil needed three pages to detail the 43 invoices for services contracted between 2007 and 2011. Among the items on them, with amounts ranging from 100 to 23,492.95 euros, are a pergola and an entrance gateway to the Las Horca park, various household appliances, mattresses, four digital terrestrial TV (TDT) receivers, decorative paintings and roller blinds. Those in charge of the case stated in one of their reports on the so-called Manilva case that «there is no evidence of advertising, open competition, or the existence of selection criteria», as the law requires for contracts worth more than 3,000 euros. The husband of the then mayor was awarded at least 18 that exceeded that amount.
The oral trial should begin this Friday after two previous postponements and will be the epilogue to an investigation that began in 2009 and has already produced its first verdict. Antonia Muñoz was convicted last August in the strand concerning irregular hirings at the Town Hall for political purposes, after 749 cases of cronyism were established. The aim was «to create a clientelist network of voters that would guarantee the governing party’s continuation in power at that time —Izquierda Unida—», the Public Prosecutor’s Office argued. Section Nine of the Provincial Court of Málaga also found the municipal legal adviser, Aitor Menoyo, guilty; he is also charged in a second strand investigating transfers of money from municipal funds to an urban development body. That trial began a little over a month ago and the dates of the new sessions have yet to be set.
