Estepona mayor faces five-year prison demand over ‘ghost employee’ embezzlement case

PROSECUTORS are seeking a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence for the mayor of Estepona, José María García Urbano, over the alleged fraudulent hiring of a woman with whom he was romantically involved.

The PP mayor has been charged with perversion of justice (prevaricación) and embezzlement of public funds. In its provisional indictment, submitted to Estepona’s Court of Instruction No. 5, the prosecution also requested a 10-year disqualification from holding public office.

The case centers on the 2023 recruitment of a woman, identified by the initials C.P.B., as a temporary staff member for the Town Hall’s External Control department. Prosecutors allege the Mayor hired her "knowing that she would never actually perform any work."

According to the indictment, C.P.B. received salary payments totalling €5,276.92 across February and March 2023. The prosecution claims she "appropriated these amounts without providing any service, resulting in a loss to municipal assets."

She was officially dismissed on March 31, 2023. While a bank cheque for the full amount was later submitted to the Town Hall by the defendants, prosecutors noted there is "no evidence the cheque has actually been cashed" into the municipal treasury.

The Public Ministry is also seeking a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence and an eight-year disqualification for C.P.B.

The Mayor’s legal team has hit back at the allegations, branding the prosecution's request a "legal nonsense based on a false statement."

Sources close to García Urbano claim the case relies on testimony from a witness whose previous accusations in other proceedings were proven false and subsequently archived. They argue that the woman’s statement should be declared void as she was later brought into the case as a suspect, at which point she exercised her right to remain silent.

"This is an inadmissible and unfair political and media campaign with the sole objective of damaging the dignity and political career of the Mayor," a spokesperson for the Mayor's circle said.

The defence has filed an appeal with the Provincial Court requesting the case be dropped, citing a total lack of evidence of criminal activity.

The prison term requested by the state prosecutor exceeds that of the private prosecution led by the PSOE, which had asked for a four-year sentence for the Mayor.