Businessman from Costa Blanca arrested in corruption investigation over discount vouchers used for post-pandemic economic boost

THE president of the Alicante Chamber of Commerce, Carlos Baño, has been arrested for alleged corruption by the Policia Nacional.

Baño was detained on Friday as part of a probe by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office into consumer voucher campaigns carried out in 2022 and 2023 in 20 municipalities across Alicante Province.

Alicante Provincial Council created the voucher scheme in order to increase household expenditure and counteract the negative economic impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

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The Council president at the time was Carlos Mazon who became Valencia president in 2023 and who Baño described as ‘being like his brother’.

The Provincial Council allocated €58 million between 2022 and 2024 to the initiative which offered a 50% discount to purchases in participating local businesses.

The investigation is focused on whether there was a fraud committed in the management and use of the public money for the voucher scheme. Facpyme– the Alicante Province small and medium-sized employers business federation- was involved.

Besides being president of the Alicante Chamber of Commerce, Carlos Baño also chairs Facpyme It is a not-for-profit organization.

The probe was to determine if he profited from the voucher scheme that he ran through a third-party firm.

Police raided many organisations, including those that manage vouchers. Facpyme Calle Orenes is the headquarters and Calle del Arzobispo Loaces, a nearby storage room.

The Alicante Chamber of Commerce has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Carlos Baño had been due to take part in a presentation on Friday morning of the Chamber’s Tourism Sector Report.

Attendees were told that Baño was not there for ‘agenda’ reasons and a deputy, Eva Miñano, apologised for his non-presence due to ‘an unforeseen event’.

The Socialist Group on the Alicante Provincial Council has said that they will ask for an extraordinary plenary and the creation a commission to investigate everything related to voucher management.

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