Astapa Case: The trial begins with 50 defendants and 284 witnesses after 15 years of waiting

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More than 15 years have passed since the investigation of the baptized

began and the trial that will determine the responsibility of each one of those allegedly involved in this macro-plot of

exposed in the Malaga municipality of

will begin, for end, next January 9th.

, will sit in the dock, among others,

after an investigation that began as a result of a corruption complaint made by two councilors from his party .

It is expected that the process, which will be held in room number 4 of the City of Justice in Malaga, will start with the presentation of the

that will be presented between January 9 and 12 and then, also, on January 16 and on the 17th of this same month.

After a break of just over a month, as of March 7, the hearings will resume with the start of the testing phase.

During the indicated sessions, the contracts and administrative concessions carried out by the

between 2003 and mid-2007, the different types of agreements signed, the actions in terms of urban discipline carried out and the bank deposits found in

will be analysed ;

Likewise, both the alleged payments and considerations received for the granting of licenses will be reviewed in detail, as well as the alleged collection of commissions linked to the payment of municipal debts, the

political parties, the

and the irregular actions of charges public and municipal technicians.

The PSOE and the PES

In addition to the then councilor of this city on the Malaga coast, five other former members of the coalition government team of the time, belonging to the Socialist Party (PSOE) and the

(PES), are being prosecuted, whom the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor accuses of creating a

.

The total number of defendants in the Astapa case amounts to 50 among

, although another 27 people and business entities are cited by the Prosecutor's Office in the case as "subsidiary responsible or responsible for profit."

In this way, the Provincial Court of Malaga will prosecute, together with Barrientos,

in a macro-proceeding that, due to its magnitude, many have described as the younger brother of

, one of the most important urban corruption schemes in history. of Spanish democracy that took place in its neighbor

.

millionaire fraud

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office estimates

the damage caused to municipal coffers in this period at

Thus, the sentences requested for the 50 defendants add up

and in the case of the former socialist mayor - who

and has claimed to have acted "within the law" - the Public Prosecutor's Office asks for him

and nine months in prison, disqualification from public employment for a period of 38 years and the corresponding fine.

For its part, Barrientos' defense has even gone so far as to point to retired commissioner

for his alleged participation in the preparation and manipulation of police reports in the investigation of the Astapa case;

and he has asked that the supposed "influence" of Villarejo in the planning and development of the operation be investigated.

macrocause

With 351,114 pages and 774 volumes (128 main volumes and 646 documentary pieces),

will intervene in the Astapa trial .

Given the imminent start of the process and "the volume and complexity" of the case, the Third Section of the Provincial Court requested "reinforcements" of officials, computer technicians and other auxiliary personnel, in addition to the appointment of two magistrates.

The objective is to procure an "adequate processing of the case" and

in its effective prosecution from its entry into this court", in addition to not generating "a serious impairment in the operation", they detailed in this regard from the Hearing.

Although the investigation

when two socialist councilors submitted to the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) of the National Police Corps in Madrid a letter accompanied by abundant documentation in which they denounced that in the vicinity of the City Council of In Estepona, crimes related to corruption could be being committed, the plot of the Astapa case has its roots in 2003 and would last until the first half of 2007.

The origin of the plot

As explained by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor in its provisional brief, when in 2003 the former mayor Barrientos and the other accused members of the municipal corporation took office "they had to face the

" in which the town was located but "Instead of programming austerity policies, they opted to maintain and even

that was unaffordable with budgetary resources."

In this way, the Public Prosecutor abounds, "to avoid any internal or external control mechanism, they chose to finance a large part of this expense with the

, a procedure already used in other municipalities on the Costa del Sol."

That box B "basically would be nourished by

with real estate interests" who in exchange would have allegedly benefited through irregular urban development agreements.

The alleged contributions mentioned by Anticorruption "translated into direct donations to the City Council, in sponsorship of sports and cultural activities, and also in assuming

as own expenses of the companies ."

In the end, "an irregular practice that made any relevant initiative in urban matters subject to prior negotiation and agreement with the leadership of one or another party was normalized," he adds, referring to the PSOE and the PES.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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• PSOE

• Jose Manuel Villarejo

• Andorra

• Corruption

• Malaga

• Town planning