Estepona council admits mayor-linked restaurant opened without licence amid corruption probe
A municipal report reveals the Mirador del Carmen restaurant - tied to an investigation into José María García Urbano - has not paid concession fees due to lack of official authorisation
Estepona town hall has admitted that the restaurant installed on the upper floors of the Mirador del Carmen tower opened its doors in September 2024 without the required opening licence.
The granting of a concession for the hospitality use of this space to a company whose sole partner and director is the partner of the mayor’s son led the courts to open proceedings in which José María García Urbano (PP) is being investigated for an alleged offence of misconduct in public office and influence peddling.
The admission of this lack of an opening licence comes after SUR consulted the report issued by the council's tax management service on 29 January and submitted to the court proceedings by the PSOE - the private prosecutor in the proceedings - which states that as of the date of this document "there is no record of an opening licence being granted for the aforementioned premises".
When asked about this situation, municipal sources explained that the council "has just learned that the opening licence dossier had not been finalised" and that the municipal delegation of commerce had been notified so that "it could go to the premises and take the appropriate measures".
The sources added that the concessionaire - which is not the mayor’s daughter-in-law, as she sold her shares of the company to a local businessman - has "all" the documentation submitted to obtain the opening licence with the required favourable environmental and health reports and is "only awaiting a fire brigade report requested a long time ago".
Request to include municipal report
According to documentation submitted by the PSOE to the court in Estepona, a report prepared by the tax management department at the request of the town hall states that, because an opening licence has not been granted, no charges have been issued for the annual concession fee of 27,427.38 euros payable by the company awarded the premises on floors 10, 11 and 12.
The Socialists justify their request to the court to include this municipal report on the grounds that its content, as stated in the submission, “is relevant to the current proceedings”. In addition to José María García Urbano, those summoned to give evidence include infrastructure and urban planning councillor Ana Velasco, and four municipal officials who were members of the procurement panel that awarded this concession.
The case was opened after the provincial public prosecutor’s office called for an investigation following inquiries by the UDEF. Prosecutors argued that the concession had been awarded to a company that failed to meet the essential economic and professional solvency requirements for contracting with the public administration. This, they said, represents a breach of the law that is impossible to justify either legally or on technical grounds.
The public prosecutor said that this points to a decision driven solely by the unilateral will of the awarding body - the town council’s procurement committee - particularly given that the company’s sole shareholder and director is, or was, the partner of the mayor’s son. According to the report, she also covered the essential costs the successful bidder had to meet during the administrative process.
