The lawyer who worked for the Torrevieja City Council for decades and is accused of forgery, fraud, and professional disloyalty has given back 34,000 euros to the municipality. This is the amount that the investigation found was missing from the municipal accounts and was supposed to cover municipal procedural costs that he had not paid back.
The professional, who is admitting to the facts with this return, would have changed the bank ownership certificate by switching the one for the municipality with his own. He would also have stolen the identity of a lawyer and taken money that should have been deposited in the City Hall.
The City Council has also opted to join the action as an injured party through the Director of Legal Affairs. This is because the lawyer who represents the city can’t defend its interests in this case because he is the one who reported the incidents. The lawyer has also refunded a minor amount that was owed to a homeowners’ association that he represented. In early November, the governing board passed a resolution that made the joining of the case official.
Detention
Guardia Civil police arrested a lawyer in his office. He is being investigated for problems with the services he provided to the Torrevieja City Council. For decades, the solicitor has worked with the City Council’s outside legal services. Torrevieja’s Court of Instruction Number 2 started looking into the case months ago after receiving a complaint about the events, mainly the missing legal fees that were owed to the City Council and should have been deposited into municipal accounts but never made it to their intended recipients.
Court costs include the expenditures of lawyers, court agents, and other people who help with legal cases, as well as court fees, expert witness fees, and notification costs. After a day in jail at the Torrevieja station, the inmate was taken before a court. This was after a search of his office that was very obvious because of the presence of Civil Guard officers.
After the detainee made a statement, Judge Juana López Hoyos, the senior judge of the Torrevieja courts, ordered his release. He had to follow several safety rules, such as going to court every 15 days, having his bank account frozen, and not being able to sell his car.
Not normal
The investigation is mostly about finding out if this professional gave the court the wrong bank account information for the City Council when they asked for these payments. Until a few years ago, lawyers and solicitors could pay these fees directly to the court. But now they have to go via the local government first, which pays the charge with public money, before sending it to the providers it has hired to perform these legal services.
The City Council found out about the problem when the local finance department didn’t get the court expenses, which were almost €80,000 more than typical. The alleged theft of monies was not finished when it was found out in this case, but that was when the facts were publicised.
Author: Derek Appleton
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