Costa de Almería
Suspects arrive at Almería court after El Ejido corruption swoop
By m.p. - Oct 21, 2009 - 12:03 PM
email this article
Files removed in the Town Hall search on Tuesday - EFE
The 20 suspects, including the Mayor, are believed to have misappropriated more than 150 million €
Tight security at the court buildings in Almería City this Wednesday morning, as the suspects arrested in the Operation Poniente corruption swoop began to arrive for questioning by the instructing judge at Court No. 2. The case, which saw the Town Hall building searched in El Ejido on Tuesday, is investigating charges of money laundering, bribery, misappropriation of public funds, falsifying commercial documents and influence peddling.
The investigation centres around the municipal services company, El Sur, 30% of which is under municipal ownership and whose President is the El Ejido Mayor, Juan Enciso, one of the 20 people taken into custody. He has been Mayor of the town since 1991, latterly as leader of the Partido de Almería, the party he founded in 2005 after leaving the ranks of the Partido Popular. Enciso’s wife was questioned by National Police on Tuesday.
El Sur and the network of companies connected to the municipal company is believed, El País reports, to have been used to misappropriate more than 150 million € over a period of six years. The company manages services such as water, lighting, and pavement upkeep and makes up for 40% of the municipal budget, and El País notes outlay by the Town Hall of sums such as 3,000 € for replacing a light bulb and another amount of 2,100 € on repairing a broken paving stone.
A number of people connected to the company were detained in the police operation on Tuesday; its former manager, José Amate, is believed to be the person at the centre of the corruption network, while the municipal auditor, José Aleman, is another of the suspects.
We now know that the police were alerted to the corruption in the Elsur company by an anonymous tip off.