A MAYOR who defrauded the town hall of Gaucin and three councillors under investigation for corruption have regained control of Gaucin town hall.
Current socialist mayor Teodoro de Molina has been overthrown by a pact between the PA party and the PP party.
New mayor from the PP party Francisco Ruiz has joined ranks with the former mayor Francisco Corbacho, who was convicted of corruption last year.
Ruiz claimed that the decision to break his party’s pact with the PSOE was due to paralysis in the mountain town.
He said: “It seems the town is being ruined and no-one wants to do anything.”
He said his view was based on the fact that during the year of his party’s pact with the PSOE almost no new urban projects had been passed.
Molina defended his position by claiming that when he had become mayor last year, the town hall was 2.5 million euros in debt.
He added that he had instead been concentrating on trying to restore “honesty and legality” to the town after a long cycle of scandals and corruption.
Earlier this year former mayor Francisco Corbacho was convicted of misdirecting public funds from the town hall coffers.
He was fined 2700 euros and banned from public office for seven years, after the court heard how he had syphoned off 200,000 euros for his own use.
The court heard how he had written a series of cheques in January 2003, which he then cashed.
He claimed he was buying land for the town hall, but the money was not returned for months. The punishment has yet to be ratified and he has appealed against the conviction.
He is also currently under investigation, along with four other councillors from the PA party, for awarding illegal building permits.
This however did not stop him from “conducting” the key meeting at Gaucin town hall and having his say.
