Carmen Gómez, former Councillor for Contracting, Urban Cleaning, Parks and Gardens, and Personnel, and former Deputy Mayor of Torrevieja’s PP government team led by Mayor Eduardo Dolón, will have her second oral hearing in less than two months.
The former Councillor’s fresh trial will take place at the Eleventh Section of the Provincial Court in Elche.
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s service is seeking a 12-year suspension from public service for alleged misconduct in promoting a special cleanup plan in 2019, despite expert concerns that it lacked a contract and budget.
The Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community (TSJCV) has reported on the trial’s scheduling and sessions, as well as a brief summary of the case. It specifically states that the Prosecutor’s Office is seeking a disqualification sentence “due to irregularities detected in the awarding of the cleaning reinforcement project called the ‘Shock Cleaning Plan,’ worth more than €128,000.” The Public Prosecutor’s Office stated that “the (then) councillor ignored the procedure established by current regulations on administrative contracting to tender the services.”
Promises
Investigations into the incidents date back to 2019. Gómez proposed this emergency cleanup plan as one of the first decisions of the new PP government team, which reclaimed the mayorship after four years of a left-wing coalition government.
At a news conference
The former Councillor presented it at a news conference alongside the mayor, Eduardo Dolón – improving urban cleaning was one of the PP’s primary promises – and promised the public that she had a contract to carry it out.
The PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party) moved the case to court soon after the service was rendered. The probe was concluded in record speed under Spanish judicial norms. Acciona commissioned the service for €128,000, but the City Council did not pay for it.
Acciona was providing rubbish collection services on a temporary basis because its contract expired in 2016. Following a contentious award process, the contract was re-awarded in 2022, under the same PP government and with Councillor Gómez as the Urban Sanitation Councillor.
The Employment Workshop
The former councillor is also being tried for misconduct in the uncontracted ordering of €180,000 in materials and supplies for the development of an employment workshop. The Prosecutor’s Office is seeking an eleven-year suspension from public office for actions that occurred in 2015. Her sentencing took place on May 25th, following four sessions at the Provincial Court in Elche.
Dolon’s resignation and silence
The former councillor, who served in both administration and opposition from 2013 to 2023, resigned on December 28th, 2023, following the Supreme Court of Justice’s confirmation of the start of oral procedures in both instances. Carmen Gómez repeatedly stated that the proceedings would not go to trial.
During the preliminary investigation, the former councilwoman, in her statement as a suspect, cleared Mayor Dolón of making choices regarding this emergency plan.
Dolón has not addressed the legal problem of the councillor who had the highest government posts on her team during the previous term and was forced to retire before the pre-election campaign started in December 2023.
No Comment! Be the first one.