Costa Blanca

Elche Court sentences former mayor of Santa Pola to six and a half years in prison

Section XI of the Elche-based Court sentenced Miguel Zaragoza, the former mayor of Santa Pola, to six and a half years in prison for malfeasance in conjunction with fraud (two years) and bribery (four and a half years) in the Gran Alacant Clinic case, following a complaint alleging labour patronage in favour of Popular Party members and his own sister, as well as exempting the company from the fee. Zaragoza is not the only person convicted; the ruling also finds the former Personnel Councillor, Jorge Perelló, and the clinic’s two managers, Fernando GS and Manuel RB, guilty and sentences them to the same prison terms for the same crimes, despite the fact that the latter two are considered necessary collaborators. The four must jointly and severally compensate the Santa Pola City Council for €109,371. The Gran Alacant Clinic has already paid €13,022. Pilar ZF, the councillor’s sister and partner, received a two-year and three-month prison sentence for being an accessory to bribery. The facility was also barred from obtaining any subsidies or tax breaks for the next four years. Three individuals were found not guilty: former councillor Loreto Cascales, Francisco Martín, and Antonio MG. The proceedings began with a complaint filed by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, and the City Council withdrew the accusations. It has taken more than a year to impose the penalty since the trial concluded.

The defendants Fernando G. S and Manuel RB worked as doctors in a private clinic in Gran Alacant on Avenida Escandinavia, according to the verdict. The former has worked there since 1989, while the latter had been a contractor since 2004. According to the verdict, the clinic “operated on municipal premises without paying any rent, nor did they pay for water, electricity, etc.” According to the ruling, after winning the elections in 2003, Zaragoza, who was mayor until 2015, approached the clinic and stated that “since they had been enjoying free use of the municipal premises, they should contribute to the hiring of an administrative assistant to provide services in the Social Security clinic that was to be opened in the same building and that Servasa was demanding from the City Council.” The councilman informed Fernando GS that the clinic’s administrative concession would be conditional on the appointment of an administrative assistant.

The granting process started the same month, with just Clínica Gran Alacant participating. The clinic was founded in March 2005 “in order to be eligible to participate in the award process.” It was controlled by defendants Manuel RB and Fernando GS, who served as administrator and attorney, respectively. On March 13th, 2006, the ten-year concession was granted. According to the agreement, the clinic would pay €10,920 per year, which may be countered or decreased by offering a medical service to manage temporary sick leave for municipal employees. The cost had to be paid in full for the first year, then in six-month payments. ” Despite knowing that they were in violation of the concession contract’s provisions, neither the mayor nor the Personnel Councillor “demanded compliance.” The clinic received three requests between 2008 and 2009 for noncompliance with the sick leave follow-up service. Without receiving a thorough response, Zaragoza and Perelló summoned the clinic’s administration to produce additional evidence because “they weren’t covering the fee, (…) going so far as to call them fools” during that meeting.

In August, the company abandoned the premises but left a consulting room available for a few hours per week, “which was not notified to the City Council.” The mayor and councillor decided “by mutual agreement” not to submit additional sick leave documents to the clinic due to “the concessionaire’s blatant failure to fulfil its obligation to monitor sick leave.” In 2012, the clinic’s floor space was lowered from 132 to 74 square metres, the cost was reduced to €6,176, and the sick leave monitoring service was replaced by a medical examination service. This alteration was implemented “with full awareness that the procedure was being followed de facto without proof in the file of a cause of public interest , without a hearing from the interested party, and without approval by the plenary session.” However, the fee was not paid.

The services now encompassed emergency treatment as well as general medicine. “This clause was breached by the concessionaire with the approval of the political leaders.” According to the verdict, the clinic was required to carry out improvement works totalling 10,842 euros, which the City Council paid to pass on to the concessionaire, but the money “was never claimed.” According to the verdict, the necessity to hire an administrative assistant “responded to the deliberate desire” of Zaragoza and Perelló to use their position to ensure that the clinic hired persons of their choice, which was completely supported by the concessionaire in exchange for not paying. “Those selected to work as assistants “were recruited because of their affinity or closeness to stated political leaders.”

Antonio MG succeeded Francisco MM, who had left the clinic on leave to join the PP’s 2011 candidate list and been elected councillor. The verdict stated that these two were unaware of the “false pact” between the politicians and the clinic. Therefore, they receive an acquittal. The third was Pilar ZF, a “politician’s sister and partner.” According to the decision, she “took advantage of her family relationship and stopped showing up to work without justification, knowing that she would face no negative consequences.” Despite not attending to work, she continued to receive her entire income from the clinic, which was agreed upon by the concessionaire in exchange for not having to execute her remaining contractual responsibilities.” City Hall employees filled her absence. Loreto Cascale, Gran Alacant’s councillor, was acquitted because she was unaware of the agreements reached by the now-convicted individuals.

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Related Topics:Council Court Crime Documents Elche Emergency Mayor Money Public Social Tax

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AP-7 tunnel at Pilar de la Horadada will be closed for at least 2 months

The accident that occurred a few days ago in the AP-7 tunnel in Pilar de la Horadada, in which a truck caught fire and killed its driver, has damaged the infrastructure to the point where it will be closed in the Alicante-Cartagena direction for at least two months, reaching the peak of the summer season.

An inspection found that the northern half of the tube’s lighting and communications circuits and the two fans closest to the fire are damaged and need to be evaluated by the manufacturer.

In addition, the protective elements, trays, video surveillance circuit, and half of the inside cameras were damaged. The dealership is installing outdoor spotlights to allow work to be done inside, beginning with scrubbing the walls using pressurised water.

All of this means that traffic cannot be restored in the impacted area for at least the next two months. Until then, traffic will be diverted to the N-332, which runs parallel for approximately 4 kilometres near the town of Pilar de la Horadada. As a result of the road closure, there are considerable traffic bottlenecks on this segment, which is a normal route with one lane in each direction and multiple roundabouts. This issue will deteriorate when the summer season begins.

The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility intends to complete the essential repairs as well as the ongoing energy efficiency measures. However, to avoid more disruption for passengers, the upcoming work on the Alicante-bound tube will be postponed until at least September.

Although the infrastructure is the responsibility of the concessionaire Ausur, which manages the most expensive sections of motorway in Spain between La Zenia and Los Montesinos – while the section between Cartagena and Orihuela Costa and Los Montesinos-Crevillent that this concessionaire executed in exchange is free -, the funds being used for the work are Next Generation, European public funds, and the ministry – not the company – has processed the entire

This 800-meter-long tunnel, with an average daily traffic of 19,000 vehicles, opened in 1999 with the construction of the Ausur motorway, and is built and operated until 2048 by a private concessionaire led by large Murcian enterprises. It is free of charge in this part.

The Ministry had intended to begin a phase of work on Monday, May 25th, in the opposite lane where the accident happened, Cartagena-Alicante, which would require a closure, but after publicising the work only two hours after the tragedy, it eventually suspended the intervention.

The works are part of the Ministry’s €3.5 million project to modernise lighting and security systems. The investment will include the renovation of the power supply, emergency lighting, evacuation signage, emergency stations, public address systems, a fire hydrant network, ventilation systems, the installation of new automatic fire detection cameras, traffic control systems, and exterior tunnel closure barriers, among other projects.

The tunnel’s lighting system will also be modified to improve the facility’s energy efficiency by introducing an intelligent control and regulation mechanism. It will be necessary to replace the current VSAP luminaire technology with LED equipment that can be dimmed point by point.

The sophisticated lighting regulation and control system will enable continuous lighting regulation of individual units based on outside brightness and tunnel occupancy levels.

All of this has been postponed until September following the disaster last Friday, when a truck overturned within the AP-7 tunnel at Pilar de la Horadada at kilometre 272, travelling towards Cartagena. One of the wheels apparently burst while passing through the tunnel.

The 55-year-old driver, originally from Valencia, was delivering steel pipes when he lost control of the vehicle, which caught fire. When it overturned onto the cab’s carrier side, he became trapped and perished.

The mix of flammable elements, such as the truck’s own gasoline, plus the fact that it remained inside the tunnel exacerbated the fire, resulting in a tremendous volume of flames and smoke that spread throughout the infrastructure.

According to the Provincial Fire Consortium, another truck was involved in the accident but remained inside the tunnel and did not catch fire. Its driver managed to get out on his own.

Personnel from Torrevieja, Almoradí, Orihuela, and Elche parks cleared the remaining tunnel, resulting in no further casualties. Meanwhile, there were major traffic congestion on the highway from Alicante to Cartagena, as well as on the N-332’s alternative and parallel route.

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Costa Blanca

Guardamar analyses tourism demand and warns of a deterioration in the British market

Guardamar del Segura’s tourist strategy remains sensible and sustainable. On May 14th, the Interdepartmental Technical Commission (CTI) reconvened at the Town Hall Plenary Hall. The discussion examined the evolution of tourism demand through 2024, with a focus on the performance of the British market, which is one of the municipality’s primary suppliers of tourists.

The Alicante-based tourist firm Sien Consulting, administering the Smart Office, presented the most pertinent data from the study during the session. One of the most beneficial elements is an increase in visitor arrivals during the low season, which is being driven by the advent of new foreign markets. This strategy promotes deseasonalisation of tourism, which benefits the local economy and broadens the profile of people who visit Guardamar outside of the summer months.

However, the research also identifies an urgent issue: the erosion in the importance of British tourism. José Luis Sáez, the mayor of Guardamar, stated that “it is a priority to further interpret the data to identify the reasons for the slowdown in the British market.”

Guardamar thus underlines its commitment to a smart tourism model that can anticipate changes in travel trends and make decisions based on real data. Institutional coordination and a coordinated approach will be critical in maintaining the municipality’s position as a top tourism destination year-round.

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Costa Blanca

Alicante pre-allocates beach bars and sun loungers on all beaches except San Juan

The Alicante City & Beach Tourist Board has pre-awarded the services of beach bars, sun loungers, lockers, and boat rentals for all beaches except San Juan, totalling €874,166.

The services were placed out to bid in five lots, and over 30 interested companies submitted proposals. The updated specifications include an expansion of the service, which will now run from March 15th to November 2nd, rather than May 1st to October 31st. The contracts will be valid for the next four years, with the option for a one-year extension.

After opening the envelopes containing the bids, they were classified for later awards. Manuel Romero Vargas was the highest-ranked bidder for Lot 1, which includes the management of umbrellas and sun loungers on Tabarca Island; for Lot 2, which includes umbrellas, sun loungers, and a beach bar from Urbanova, along with umbrellas and sun loungers from Agua Amarga, Sgao Asfáltica took first place; for Lot 3, which includes umbrellas, sun loungers, lockers and nautical rentals in El Postiguet, the UTE Compromiso, made up of Restaura Gestión Forty and Como S

The concession for these services in San Juan Beach is being put out to competition under another contract that will stay in effect this year.