The Mayor of Albox has been suspended from his PSOE party over claims of corruption and undeclared trips charged to the public purse.
The order by given by the President of Andalucia personally, Susana Diaz, who seems concerned that allegations about to be revealed will again drag her party into yet another corruption scandal. Mayor Rogelio Mena was also secretary of Ideas and Programs for the Andalusian PSOE party. Officially he has had his party membership suspended with no time frame for its return.
The opposition PP have filed a series of complaints with the public prosecutor alledging that Mayor Rogelio has consistently refused to release information that should be in the public domain, relating to the awarding of large public service contracts to companies owned by family members. The Prosecutor has now filed a court case against the Mayor requesting 30 months barring from holding public office for refusing to release the information. Mayor Mena says the case is “100% false” and that he expects the Judge to throw it out of court. (We shall see!)
The PP have also filed a complaint saying that he’s spent €14,000 euros of townhall money on 84 unauthorised and unexplained trips across Spain, using an official car and driver. Menas says all of these trips are on official business and that he is attempting to improve services in the town by lobbying officials. The PP say most of these trips were weekend trips, and insinuate his wife went with him.