The PP of Cantoria has expressed through a press release its “concern” about the “possible rigging” that could occur in the Cantoria City Council after learning that a competition has been opened to hire lawyers. Supposedly everything has to happen with transparency and that is what the PP is demanding, who will be vigilant so that the law firm that wins this competition is not the same one that will defend the mayor, Purificación Sánchez, and the councillor for Urban Planning, Ramón López, both investigated for various crimes of prevarication, influence peddling and fraud.
The PP in Cantoria reminds that the administration should not defend a mayor or a councillor who may be presumed guilty, but that both should hire a lawyer and pay for it out of their own pocket. In the event that they are acquitted, they will then be able to claim the expenses from the City Council.
Furthermore, the issuance of legal reports in both Urban Planning and Contracting in a City Council cannot be done through an administrative contract. It is illegal and is reserved for public officials.
Therefore, the Popular Party will ensure that the competition is resolved in accordance with the law and that the lawyer who is defending both of them is not the beneficiary of this municipal contract.
For the PP of Cantoria it would be a “huge scandal” for the mayor and the councillor for Urban Planning to use the money of all the people of Cantoria to pay for her defence against her accusation of various crimes, a defence that could cost around 70,000 euros, which the town does not have to pay for.
“If they are accused, what they have to do is defend themselves and pay the consequences of their misdeeds. Cantoria is not to blame for its management mistakes and that is why we demand that those 70,000 euros be used to cover the needs that exist in the municipality and not to defend two people from the City Council who have acted thinking only of their personal interests,” they say.
The Popular Party recalls that it was last July when Court No. 2 of Huércal-Overa admitted a criminal complaint filed by PP councillors against Purificación Sánchez and Ramón López for acting outside the law.
According to the statement, “both of them, together with a developer, allegedly spent years plotting a plan to legalise 15 houses condemned to demolition by the Provincial Court of Almería.”
Furthermore, they continue to explain, the aim of those involved was to sell the homes to European citizens despite the existence of a final court ruling for demolition, together with the execution of the corresponding ruling communicated to the City Council.