Walter Finch
FRESH details that have emerged surrounding the sexual harassment scandal engulfing the mayor of Estepona.
He has been accused of abusing his position to sexually abuse a Policia Local officer and his wife between March 2022 and June 2023.
The much-respected Jose Maria Garcia Urbano, 61, has come out fighting, calling himself ‘the victim of false allegations of sexual harassment’.
The mayor is not just described as personally very charming and likeable, but is credited as the man who has dragged Estepona into the A category of Spanish resort towns.
READ MORE: Mayor of Estepona is accused of sexual harassment of male town hall employee
But the victim complaint, which was officially accepted yesterday in the Court Number 5 in Estepona, has left little to the imagination.
Judges are now studying whether Estepona’s long-term PP leader should face charges over the grim ‘sexual harassment’ claims.
The victim’s lawyer, Antonio Granados Caballero, hinted at some of the details this week.
He told the Olive Press: “The mayor ‘invited’ [the victim] to have sexual relations under all kinds of perversions.”
“It came under the threat of losing his job,” he added.
The accusations even involve the victim’s wife, who ‘had little choice but to go along with it’.
According to the complaint, events began at the Parador de Málaga Golf Club, when the victim caught the eye of García Urbano.
Over the course of 15 months, the mayor is accused of pressuring the policeman and his wife into sexual relations, employing both threats and inducements.
“From the very beginning, he felt that the accused was looking at him and talking to him in a special way, not in accordance with the normal working relationship that a mayor can have with his officials,” the complaint reads.
It describes the ‘libidinous intent’ the mayor had towards the young policeman.
“The latter, unable to believe what he was hearing, and with deep fear (in case such rejection could affect his job (he has two young children)), had no other choice but to accede to Mr. García Urbano’s sexual demands.
“In all the episodes, the complainant had to accede to the sexual demands of the accused for fear of losing his job and, as a consequence, not being able to support his family,” the complaint states.
But threats and pressure were not Garcia Urbano’s only tool, according to the document.
He offered the victim and his wife, who live in Cordoba, a helping hand of €2,000 a month and the promise of an apartment in Estepona to ‘continue satisfying his sexual desires.’
After this arrangement had been set up, García Urbano allegedly contacted the complainant ‘insistently and daily,’ in order to continue the sexual tryst with both him and his wife.
The mayor went so far as to say that ‘if he didn’t play along, his professional career was over forever’ and that ‘he was going to make his life impossible, since he has contacts that prevent him from working anywhere,’ according to the complaint.
“Feeling humiliated, [Garcia Urbano] ordered him to strip naked to have sex with him. [The victim] refused to do so, but Mr. García Urbano repeated to him that, if he didn’t, he would lose his job,” it continues.
It also alleged that García Urbano gave the victim ‘some blue pills’ in order to be able to fulfil his orders.
The general secretary of the PSOE in Estepona, Emma Molina, told the Olive Press the allegations against Garcia Urbano were ‘extremely serious.’
“Neither the mayor nor the town hall can remain silent,” she said last night.
“They have to show their faces and explain what is behind this complaint, which tarnishes the name of Estepona,” she added.
The employee, who is currently in Cordoba and on ‘mental health leave’, claims he faced the ‘sexual harassment’ between March 2022 and June 2023.
He had only recently taken a job with the town’s local police force, according to reports.
The allegations come as a bombshell for the high-flying former lawyer and notary, who has been tipped by many for the top job at the Junta.
Initial steps will see an investigating judge taking testimony from the alleged victim with the mayor then expected to attend court to answer the claims.
The mayor – who gained a record 69.4% of votes in the 2019 elections – denied the claims yesterday.
“It is an inexcusable and unjust campaign to damage my personal dignity and my trajectory with a clear and spurious goal,” he insisted in a statement.
He added in a social media post that he was going to hire a team of lawyers who will ‘prove the absolute lack of foundation of this complaint.’
