According to a communiqué from the Almuñécar branch of the CA (Benavides), the Mayor hired a company convicted of corruption to build the municipal market.

They claim that CHM Obras e Infraestructuras SA, who were awarded the contract for the new, municipal market and are based in Valencia, was found guilty in 2018 in the macro corruption case, Gürtel, against the Partido Popular for illegal financing.

The owner of the said company, Enrique Tomás Ortíz Selfa, accepted the prison sentence of one year, three months for illegally financing the election campaign of the PP during the General Election of 2008 and document forgery.

This was just a small part of the PP corruption case (Gürtel) with ramifications in several parts of Spain.

The said company also reportedly stands accused of corruption over the high-speed train link between Alicante and Murcia.

The CA said that Mayor Herrera had rejected breaking up the contract into three parts so that local companies could enter, forming a union temporal de empresas (a temporary, joint business venture to carry out a specific task). Furthermore, the CA claims that CHM Obras e Infraestructuras SA’s bid was not even the best offer as it was 290,000 more expensive than the cheapest bid.

Editorial comment: that the PP Mayor of Almuñécar should award a contract to a company whose owners were found guilty of corruption in a massive corruption case against her own party, is a tremendous faux pas, because her left wing allies will find it almost impossible to justify supporting her party in the present governing coalition.

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