A COSTA former deputy mayor and leading councillor for an
expat political party has been remanded in prison without bail after
being charged with bribery disclosed by a video recording.
Manuel Barrera – former deputy mayor of San Fulgencio
and president of the Agrupación Independiente del Mediterráneo
(AIM) party – was arrested on Monday and taken in handcuffs
to the town hall where police searched his office and then his house
in La Marina.
He and his partner were placed in the cells at the National Police headquarters
in Alicante.
She was released after making a declaration and handing in the 5,000
euros involved in the case.
On Wednesday evening Sr Barrera was questioned by a judge for three hours before
being sent to prison.
The scandal blew up last Friday when a regional newspaper published a video and
transcript of Sr Barrera meeting with two businessmen in a restaurant in which
he appeared to take an envelope containing 5,000 euros in return for ‘favouring’ a
construction project.
The meeting took place in Valencia in September and was captured by a hidden
camera.
Alicante’s anticorruption prosecutor Felipe Briones launched a judicial
investigation and ordered the newspaper to hand over the tape.
In it, the men claim to represent a Catalan construction firm and say they have
between 200,000 and 240,000 euros available.
The 5,000 euros is the first instalment if ‘you are our man’, they
state.
“I don’t give away my work, because my work is my time; if I take
time from doing what I like, which is being with my partner, my boat, my fishing,
my sailing, travelling and my dogs, I’m very sorry but this has to be paid
for,” Sr Barrera replies.
“Then there’s another thing; we are all going to benefit from my
knowledge and my experience, and this also has a price.”
He subsequently agrees on the quantity and says that large notes are better ‘because
they take up less space.’
“As soon as anyone talks, the deal is off,” he adds.
In declarations to the newspaper, Sr Barrera insisted that the money had been
to finance his party but that his fellow AIM members were ‘completely unaware’ of
the transaction.
He also said he suspected he was the victim of a trap set by his local government
partners.
AIM councillor Mark Lewis said that they had known nothing
of the payment.
He said they were communicating with their legal advisors and would make a full
statement when appropriate.
Some local residents were sent an anonymous package this week claiming to be
from ‘extorted businessmen’ containing a letter and a copy of the
incriminating film.
The letter claims Sr Barrera offered them an investment in a project including
a golf course, casino, river marina and hotels.
The AIM website outlines a plan to convert ‘La Cantera’ (the quarry)
area into a desirable place to live with new top-of-the-range houses, costing
around 500,000 euros, built around an 18-hole golf course.
Mayoress Trinidad Martínez said that the plans for 4,000 houses at ‘La
Cantera’ approved by the town hall in 2005 are still with the regional
government and do not include any of the leisure features outlined.
The AIM Association, which is separate from the AIM political party, will be
holding a general meeting ‘in the light of recent events.’
Spokesman and vice-president Mick Ager insisted that they are ‘a residents’ association
and remain separate from the political party’ but share Sr Barrera as president.
He said no action would be taken without first consulting their membership and
voting on it.
Socialist party (PSOE) mayoress Martínez issued a decree last Friday revoking
Sra Barrera’s responsibilities including the local treasury, business,
and tourism departments.
He will retain his position as councillor unless he resigns or is legally disqualified.
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| THE
ORGANIZACIÓN
de Consumidores y Usuarios (OCU) revealed this week that the
cost of a weekly shop at the supermarket has risen by an average
12 per cent over the last year.
In a study carried out in 53 cities across Spain, OCU checked the prices of 104,500
items in supermarkets. They then divided the weekly shop into two categories;
the first a shopping trolley full of 146 brand name goods and the second full
of the same goods bearing the individual supermarkets logo that are considered
to be more economical.
The result was that goods in the brand name shopping trolley showed a price increase
of 11.4% and those in the second economic trolley showed a rise of 12.3%.
Breaking this down even further OCU says that the cost per year of buying brand
named items in the weekly shop is now an average 4,555 euros while the economic
goods cost 3,110 euros.
It also says that by shopping around these figures could be reduced by 1,565
and 2,295 euros respectively.
On a provincial level, OCU says that filling a shopping trolley with brand name
goods in Alicante costs on average 4,650 euros with the most expensive supermarket
being in El Corte Inglés where the cost of 146 items rose to 5,100 but
dropped to 4,200 in Alcampo.
OCU says that the cheapest supermarket in Alicante is Alcampo followed Mercadona,
Dialprix, Eroski, Mas y Mas, Consum, Hipercor and Carrefour
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