Costa News Spain Breaking News | English News in Spain.
A FORMER Santa Pola city mayor was sentenced to prison on corruption charges over a private medical clinic where he employed his sister and which did not have to pay bills.
Miguel Zaragoza served as the Partido Popular mayor in the Costa Blanca municipality from 2003 to 2015.
Together with the ex-councillor Jorge Perello he was found guilty of fraud, corruption, and administrative deception. They were sentenced to each six and half years in prison.
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The same punishment was also given to two doctors who worked at the Gran Alacant clinic.
A clinic employee who was Zaragoza’s sister and Perello’s partner received two years and three months behind bars for ‘assisting’ bribery.
Three former Santa Pola city councilors were acquitted.
The clinic has also been banned from receiving any subsidies or benefits for four years.
The Valencian Supreme Court can hear appeals on all sentences.
The Alicante Provincial Court ruled Zaragoza Perello had allowed Clinica Gran Alacant SL, a company owned by the council, to open a medical clinic without paying any rent or utilities.
The judges said the politicians acted ‘in concert’ with those behind the clinic.
They also took advantage of their positions by ensuring the facility hired ‘like-minded people’, namely members of the Partido Popular.
Zaragoza’s sister, Pilar, even stopped working because she ‘would suffer no consequences’ and continued to receive a full salary.
The court said the two politicians and two doctors must compensate Santa Pola City Council to the tune of €109,37- of which €13,022 has already been paid by Clinica Gran Alacant SL.
