Albox townhall has refused to consign 3.104.185€ to the local courts to cover its “civil responsibility” for permitting the construction and sale of 98 illegal homes to British citizens, and has voted unanimously to appeal the sentence. Read my explanation of the court order over here.
Rogelio Mena, the PSOE Mayor, says that neither he nor his team were responsible for allowing the constructions (he blames the previous PP mayor from the other party) and say he refuses to take responsibility. He also added that 3,1 million euros is equivalent to 41.7% of the town budget, a figure I haven’t bothered to check.
“I will not allow the hard work that this Council, employees and citizens have carried out in economic and work terms to be destroyed by the nefarious administration of the previous Mayor, which has come back to haunt this town” he declared to applause from the council last night. Implying, of course, that the court order can go hang in an election year.
Councillor for zoning Sonia Cerdán had her say: “although planning responsibility rest with the townhall, it is totally unjust and illogical that the money of all the people of Albox must go to pay the illegalities carried out by people to whom we have given names and surnames. The powers in urban discipline are harsh but clear. For all the hurt it causes us to say no to a neighbour, when the answer is it’s impossible, we must say no”.
The Council voted to setup a Commission of Investigation to find out what happened and apportion blame. This motion passed unanimously after the opposition PP were granted a seat on the Commission, as are the legal representatives of those implicated in the criminal case.
The PP party in the town say that they fully support the measures, and added that “our duty is transparency, clarity and response to the demands of the citizens. When faced with a situation like this that can be so damaging for the interests of the townhall we must seek those responsible and make them face the consequences, if any are so demanded”.