Mayor Trinidad Herrera of Almuñécar, upon hearing of a lawsuit lodged by Hermanos Garcia S.L, has given her side of the story.

“Hermanos García had to carry out reform work on the market [car park] that they themselves brought to a halt and I believe that they did that because when they took over the lease they saw the state of the market building; it’s in terrible condition bearing in mind that the structure is only 25 to 30 years old. And, of course, I didn’t have it built,” she explained.

“One should hold responsible those that spent that much money on something that has only lasted the few years that it has,” she continued, referring to the ex-Mayor, Juan Carlos Benavides.

“According to expert reports it should be demolished instead of spending vast sums of money patching it up. Let’s not forget the money that has been spent in these 25 years patching it up already,” she concluded.

She explained how when Hermanos Garcia stopped the reform work because it was much more than they had bargained for, she took steps to cancel their lease contract.

“All this is followed by enormous lies about how Mercadona was going to take it over, or how it was going to be changed into a shopping centre, just to manipulate [public opinion] even though I had already signed an agreement with the stall holders in which I promised that they would return to their original stalls, respecting the original dimensions,” she said.

She concluded by stating that in her opinion Hermanos García had no right to claim ten million euros from the Town Hall and that the situation has been manipulated purely for electoral gains.

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)