The court of the third section of the Malaga Provincial Court, which prosecuted the “Astapa” case, against the alleged political and urban corruption in Estepona, the absolution of the businessman from Cordoba Jose Romerothen in front Prasa Groupabout the accusation against him. Sources close to the businessman told ABC of their satisfaction after learning of the judgment after almost 17 years which weighed like a burden on the future of this Cordovan family business.
The court summoned the parties this Friday to publicly read the judgment. Nearly 50 defendants arrived at the start of the trial, including the former socialist mayor Antonio Barrientosas well as other former municipal officials of the PSOE and the Estepona Party (PES); as well as businessmen and civil servants.
After the hearing, 37 people were charged, after the case was closed for some defendants and after the prosecution withdrew the charges for nine people.
The investigation began in 2007 in connection with the former Commissioner Villarejo. The hearing began on January 9, 2023 with the processing of the preliminary questions, at the end of which the Court canceled the telephone tapping. The trial was structured in blocks to facilitate its progress, although the complexity of this case meant that the hearings lasted a year and a half.
In his final conclusions, the prosecutor significantly reduced all the sanctions initially requested against the defendants, believing that there is a circumstance that mitigates in a very nuanced way the sanction of undue and extraordinary delays. Additionally, there are agreements under two defendants.
Initially, the public prosecutor requested four and a half years in prison against José Romero, presenting him as the “material author” of an alleged crime of fraud and a “necessary collaborator” of another of falsification of documents. He ultimately maintained his accusation only with regard to the latter.
For both violations, he requested a fine of fifteen months in increments of 20 euros and his ban from all public office for four years. All this was based on two planning agreements from 2001 and 2003 aimed at promoting housing in the area and for which, according to the tax report at the time, commissions were allegedly paid.
The long and tortuous investigation and prosecution of the case (16 years and 4 months) finally led to a reduction of this sentence requested by the prosecution and this Friday to the acquittal of a case which weighed like a stone on the trajectory of Córdoba. group of companies throughout all these years of economic crisis and restructuring. A defect that has hampered many of the group’s financing options over these long decades.
