The Public Prosecutor has decided to maintain his case against the Mayor of Nerja over an illegal rubbish dump and is recommending 2-years' imprisonment.

Although the case against Mayor José Alberto Armijo (PP) remains, the Public Prosecutor has withdrawn his case against the Councillor for Urban Development, Nieves Atencia (PP).

Also involved in the case are six businessmen for whom the Public Prosecutor has dropped the recommended sentence from two years imprisonment and 18 months barred from exercising their profession to only 9-months imprisonment, which would be an automatic suspended sentence.

The illegal rubbish dump, located in the Río de La Miel area, was in use for 18 years within the vicinity of the Natural Park Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara y Alhama. During this time there was uncontrolled dumping going on, mostly building refuse and vegetable waste from pruning.

It was in the year 2000 that the Mayor, side stepped all the necessary permits and awarded, orally, the running of the dump (an abandoned quarry) to determined construction companies — it should be remembered that this was during the building-boom period.

However, with the quarry now in full swing as a dump, the Mayor informed the Junta of his intention to open a rubbish tip but the Junta said that an environmental-impact study would be needed first, but allegedly the Mayor completely ignored this. Even the Town Hall itself used the dump and when Junta inspectors did go round, having caught wind of it, they found used tyres, old, white goods and building waste (rubble and broken construction material).

Last June the Junta de Andalucía finished restoring the area to its original state; an operation that cost 1.6m euros.

(News: Nerja, Axarquia, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)