Garrucha council has said it is “shocked” by the discovery that the previous administration had purchased material at “ridiculous” prices.
A warehouse full of “extremely expensive supplies” has been found. According to the invoices, lightbulbs were supplied at a cost of 44 euros each, when their recommended retail price was just three euros. Other items in the warehouse were urinal cakes costing 15 euros each (retail price 3 euros) or 30.000 handtowels costing 15.000 euros.
Mayor Maria Luisa (PSOE) said she “could not believe that anyone could be so stupid”. According to her audit, the material in the warehouse has cost 100.000 euros.
The Mayor has said that she is negotiating to return as much of the material as possible, but that some of the suppliers have refused to take their supplies back.
She said: “some of this was purchased as far back as 2013 and the suppliers are now suing for the settlement of their invoices”.
Similar cases in other towns have been linked to corruption, where the suppliers return part of the excess invoiced to the politicians who ordered them. This has not been suggested in Garrucha.
Not corruption….really?