Walter Finch
THE allegations against the mayor of Estepona have not been proven to be false and new evidence will be submitted, the prosecuting lawyer has insisted.
Antonio Granados Caballero represents the local policeman and his wife who claim to be the victims of an 18-month campaign of sexual abuse by the powerful Jose Garcia Urbano.
But a judge dismissed the case of sexual abuse and coercion against the mayor last week, one of two cases stemming from the allegations.
However, Granados has claimed that Urbano’s claims of exoneration by the judge are false and the case remains open pending an appeal to a higher court.
“It is not the case that the charges against the investigated party are false as he has claimed on his social networks,” Granados said in a statement.
“As of today, the procedure against the person under investigation remains open until our appeal has been heard and new evidence submitted.”
A second hearing against Urbano for misuse of public funds will go ahead this month, considering whether he hired the complainant’s wife in the town hall on a false short-term contract.
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The complainants have alleged that Urbano gave her a €3,000-a-month role for which she was never required to perform or even set foot in the town hall building.
They allege it was part of a campaign of inducements that Urbano maintained in order to keep them pliable and carry on with the ‘abusive relationship.’
Urbano, who has denied the claims and called them politically-motivated smears, has been called twice to testify to the court as a suspect in the parallel cases.
In a statement to his Facebook page after the first case was dismissed, Urbano wrote: “The court confirms that I have been the victim of a false complaint for sexual harassment.
“In this sense, there are no indications of criminality for the opening of oral proceedings, which has revealed the falsehood and contradictions of the complainants’ story, as well as the absolute lack of foundation of the complaint.
Since I learned of the complaint through the media, I explained that it was an inadmissible and unfair campaign to damage my personal dignity and my political career with a single and clear spurious purpose, to try to remove me from the Town Hall and from my commitment to Estepona.”
