George Mathias
THE former mayor of Manilva, Antonia Muñoz, has been disqualified for nine years from holding public office following investigations into her so-called ‘favouritism network’.
Her actions ‘created a network of voters that guaranteed the continuance in power of the ruling party at the time,’ according to the prosecutor’s office.
The Provincial Court of Malaga handed its judgment to Muñoz, who was mayor from 2007 to 2013, on August 2.
One of her key advisers during her time in office, Aitor Menoyo has also been found guilty of the same charge and is suspended from public office for 21 months.
The same court acquitted Diego Diaz, a former Human Resource Councillor, as well as Francisco Medina, head of the Sports Department – both had been accused of facilitating Muñoz.
The judicial authority was particularly scathing of Ms Muñoz for her ‘uncooperative attitude’ during the investigation.
In a statement, the court said she ‘flooded the court with documentation that had little or nothing to do with what had been requested.’
Two associations were set up by Munoz ostensibly as municipal bodies but were in fact used to hire some 749 people without any selection process.
Muñoz is still to face two other cases relating to her time as head of the Manilva Town Hall on the alleged illegal transfer of money to the El Hacho urban entity of the municipality and the awarding of municipal contracts to companies owned by her husband.
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