No one will go to jail 17 years later because of the socialist corruption of Estepona. This Friday, the third chamber of the Malaga court convicted 15 defendants and acquitted 31 others. Among those convicted is the former mayor of Estepona, Antonio Barrientos, who at the time had a government pact with the Party of Estepona (PSE).
A sentence from five months suspension for a job or a public function, in addition to a fine of 40,000 euros for an offense of passive corruption. “You know that the request initially requested by the prosecutor, as far as I am concerned, has been considerably reduced by 11 years in prison, 78 million euros in civil liability and a million euros fine. Today we find ourselves in a completely different scenario,” explained the former mayor of Estepona, who said he had always acted “in defense of the public.”
Among those found guilty, only a six-month prison sentence is provided. This is José Ignacio Crespo de Lucas, convicted of passive corruption and prevarication to these six months and two and a half years of ban. This prison sentence will not be effective. The rest of those sentenced are all fines and suspensions, some of which exceed 728,000 euros.
During the trial, which lasted a year and a half, the prosecution alleged “abuses in the exercise of public office, which are what are called corruption crimes.” Former mayor Antonio Barrientos was accused of a continuing crime of lying, fraud and embezzlement, and another of corruption and prevarication. He was ultimately only found guilty of passive corruption. “Antonio Barrientos could have made a mistake but he never got his hands on it”emphasized the former mayor of Estepona.
The public prosecutor explained during the trial that there were allegedly irregular practices linked to town planning agreements, as well as create a box B at City Hall. The prosecution assured that this had led to the “hijacking” of the Consistory. “There was a real embezzlement of funds,” he noted during the trial. Barrientos called the prosecutor’s investigation “aberrant” and an “atrocity.”
“He sentenced me to the wall and, after all, it was necessary to slap the mayor,” declared the former mayor, who will appeal the sentence, because there was no damage to the public coffers. “I was found guilty of receive a gift for my public position, which we will see in the sentence. It was a real absurdity,” Barrientos concluded.
However, 17 years later, the so-called “Little Malaysia” plot unraveled with the acquittal of a businessman and civil servants, as well as the payment of those found guilty. fines or disqualificationwhile many of them are already retired.
