Walter Finch
THE woes of Estepona’s mayor could be set to deepen after a court heard he handed a plum €60,000-a-year position to the partner of the man he allegedly sexually abused.
The testimony came from the wife of a policeman who has accused high-flying mayor Jose Maria Urbano of a 15-month campaign of threats and sexual terror until he went on mental health leave in July 2023.
According to Spanish investigative outfit El Cierre Digital, the wife – initials CPB – was installed as a temporary civil servant in the External Audit Unit from February to July 2023.
CPB, who ‘only has a nursing assistant qualification’, was reportedly tasked with ‘carrying out special advisory and trust functions’.
“She had an annual salary of more than €60,000 as a councillor in the External Control Area,” El Cierre Digital report a source close to the town hall as saying.
Among her various responsibilities was to supervise and coordinate the contractors which carried out maintenance and cleaning and looked after public lighting in the municipality.
She turned up in court on Monday to testify as a witness for nearly two hours, answering questions from her husband’s lawyer, Urbano’s team of lawyers, the investigating judge and the prosecution.
“She told the court in great detail the ordeal she went through,” the victim’s lawyer, Antonio Granados Caballeros told the Olive Press.
“She told them exactly how everything occurred down to the dates and places.
“She told them about all the threats, the anxiety and terror she felt.”
El Cierre Digital’s source said the mayor could be facing ‘two charges of sexual harassment and a possible charge of embezzlement of funds.’
PSOE spokesperson in Estepona Emma Molina reminded the mayor that her party had already asked him to step down while the matter is investigated.
“Things are getting very serious for the mayor now,” Molina told the Olive Press.
“A situation like this damages the credibility of the town hall and generates great concern among the town’s residents, who deserve clear and conclusive answers.”
Sources close to the town hall told PSOE councillors that the mayor could only have used public funds to pay the complainant’s wife, who has now been flipped from a witness to a victim in the proceedings.
Molina added: “These allegations far exceed the mayor’s private life and intrude into the realm of his public duties.”
It comes after the Olive Press reported that the police officer at the heart of sexual abuse allegations against Urbano has twice had to be talked down from committing suicide.
During his own testimony last month, the officer told the judge he would sooner ‘shoot himself’ before going back to work for ‘that man’.
The Policia Local officer explained how Estepona’s leader launched an alleged campaign of sexual harassment against him and later his wife from May 2022.
When it came to his own turn to testify, Urbano chose to attend court as a ‘suspect’ – and not voluntarily, as he had claimed.
It was a move that gave him the right to refuse questions from either the prosecutor or the victim’s lawyer. He also stonewalled the assembled press pack outside the courtroom.
During an official town hall meeting last month, Opposition PSOE councillor Emma Molina asked the mayor if he had considered ‘stepping down’.
She described his failure as ‘unethical’ and said that the local residents were ‘talking about it in the streets’ and demanding urgent answers.
“Don’t you think refusing to answer the prosecution obstructs the search for the truth?” she added.
He angrily replied that he would not step down over a case that he dubbed as ‘political’ and was merely aimed to tarnish his reputation.
The pressure is growing on the mayor, particularly as further witnesses will give evidence next week.
“Be assured that I will only withdraw from political life when I consider that I have fulfilled my function, my duty and my obligation to the town, or when the people want me to,” Urbano, 61, responded.
“I will not step down for any other reason, and certainly not one of a political nature like the one you are referring to.”
The mayor also dodged a series of questions about his conduct during a grilling from opposition councillors.
“Why, Mr Mayor, did you decide not to answer the questions of the prosecution and the lawyer for the prosecution?” she began.
“Are you willing to explain why you lied publically when you said that you were going to testify voluntarily when in reality you did so as a suspect, given that it is the only option open to you to exercise your right not to testify?”
“Do you not believe that refusing to answer the prosecution obstructs the legal process and the search for the truth, when you should be the first party interested in clarifying the alleged facts you are accused of?”
She suggested that dodging questions from the prosecutor ‘could be a strategy to avoid giving direct explanations.’
The councillor implored the mayor to at least provide an explanation to the ‘concerned citizens of Estepona who are already discussing the issue in the streets.’
“If you don’t do so, you will be defrauding them of their trust.”
According to the victim complaint, events began at the Parador de Málaga Golf Club, when the victim caught the eye of 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 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.
The mayor – who gained a record 69.4% of votes in the 2019 elections – has denied the claims.
“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 earlier this month.
