The Public Prosecutor’s Office accuses the Mayor of Albox, Francisco Torrecillas Sánchez, and the Town Hall Auditor, Javier Saura Romero, of “preventing the opposition (PSOE) from carrying out their task of effective supervision and control of the exercise of the public function, repeatedly failing to provide the information and documentation that the councillors requested on matters relating to the state of execution of the Town Hall’s budget for 2017 and the execution of the works that were being carried out in the school of La Milagrosa, better known as El Convento”.
This is clear from the indictment which has been accessed by La Comarca Noticias, where it is reflected that the PSOE councillors “Francisco Bernardo Carrillo Quiles and Ángel Francisco Pardo Mármol, councillors of the Town Council of Albox, repeatedly requested relevant information for their work of opposition and development of their functions as councillors, In response to which, the accused, voluntarily and in breach of their obligations, did not answer, answered evasively or answered the requests, without finally giving effective compliance with the requests made by the councillors, so that in any case, the response was useless for the work of the opposition”.
“Specifically, the Prosecutor’s letter continues, on 12 March 2018, councillor Francisco Pardo Mármol presented a letter to the accused Javier Saura in which he requested that the opposition group be informed about the state of execution of the extended budget of the Albox Town Council for the 2017 financial year up to the date of signing the letter (12/03/2018), as well as the specific identification of the expenses made for works/projects within the investment item, without obtaining any information whatsoever.
On 24 July 2018, Councillor Francisco Bernardo Carrillo Quiles again submitted a letter to the defendant Javier Saura in which he reiterated the previous request in view of the lack of response, requesting that the information be extended to the date of signature of the letter submitted (23/07/2018); however, the requested information was not provided either.
On 28 August 2018, and five months having elapsed without receiving the information, councillor Francisco Bernardo Carrillo Quiles again submitted a letter to the defendant Javier Saura requesting a further report on the state of execution of the budget carried over from the 2017 financial year up to the date of signature of the letter submitted (28/08/2018), as well as on the spending limit for each budget item, and whether it had been exceeded. Likewise, on the same date, councillor Francisco Bernardo Carrillo Quiles, presented a letter addressed to the accused Francisco Torrecillas Sánchez in which he requested, in view of the lack of information, that the Mayor’s Office take the necessary steps to ensure that the Intervention of the City Council provide them with the information repeatedly requested. Despite such requests, this information was not provided.
In view of the failure to comply with the request, on 25 September 2018, councillor Francisco Bernardo Carrillo presented a new letter to the accused Francisco Torrecillas Sánchez in which he requested that, in his capacity as mayor, he give the necessary orders to the Intervention of the City Council to provide the information requested up to the date of signing the letter (25/09/2018). The required information was not obtained either.
Finally, on 19 October 2018, councillor Francisco Bernardo Carrillo, presented a new letter to the accused Francisco Torrecillas Sánchez in which he reiterated his request for access to the report on the state of execution of the extended budget of Albox Town Council for the financial year 2017 up to the date of signing of the letter (19/10/2018), as well as the spending limit for each item, without obtaining any information.
Despite all the requests made, and the holding of ordinary and extraordinary plenary sessions of the Albox Town Council, the accused did not provide at any time the information and documentation requested by the opposition councillors, who filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office on 18 January 2019 in view of the impossibility of fulfilling their functions of supervision and control of the political work.
According to the Prosecutor, Francisco Torrecillas and the Comptroller of Albox Town Hall, Javier Saura Romero, are responsible for these facts.
Therefore, according to the Public Prosecutor, each of the accused should be sentenced to two years and six months of special disqualification from public employment or public office.
