Estepona mayor summoned to testify in court in investigation into alleged crime of influence peddling

A court in Estepona has summoned the town mayor, José María García Urbano (Partido Popular), to testify for a reported crime of prevarication and influence peddling linked to the concession of three floors of the Mirador del Carmen tower for catering use to a company owned by the partner of the mayor's son.

The councillor for infrastructure and urban planning, Ana Velasco, and four municipal technicians who formed part of the contracting committee that awarded the concession will also have to appear before the court. The hearing will take place on 30 January, while two witnesses will be summoned on 23 January, as confirmed by sources.

According to the prosecution, which uses the investigation of the fiscal crime unit of the police as a basis, "the award of the contract to a company, while omitting the essential requirements for doing business with the administration due to its lack of financial and professional solvency, constitutes a contradiction with the law, inexplicable from a legal or technical-legal standpoint". "This leads us, ab initio, to conclude that it solely reflects the unilateral will of the awarding body (the town hall's procurement committee), particularly given that the sole partner and director of the company is, or has been, the partner of the mayor's son, who has covered the essential expenses that the awarded company had to incur during the administrative process," the complaint states.

Municipal sources have stated that, as mayor, José María García Urbano does not form part of any of the town hall's contracting committees, nor does he intervene in the drawing up of the specifications or in the selection of the companies that are awarded the contracts. According to them, this is "a task that is carried out by the municipal technicians".

They added that the town hall secretary's office is preparing a copy of the entire file on this contract to send it to the court in the next few days. The same sources state that "there has been no illegality or crime" on the part of the mayor, the councillor and the municipal technicians who carried out the tender and subsequent awarding of this concession.

Sources added that those under investigation will have the opportunity to clarify and demonstrate in court "that the entire procedure has been in accordance with the law and that there is no type of irregularity or incompatibility in the awarding of the contract that is the object of this investigation".