Urban corruption conviction overturned

February 1, 2007  •  Granada  •  0 Comments

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A LOCAL mayor who was jailed for supposed town planning irregularities has had his conviction overturned.

Miguel Torres, the PSOE mayor of Castell de Ferro-Gualchos, had been sentenced to one year behind bars in September 2006 by a Motril court for allowing the construction of 13 homes that exceeded the town hall’s restrictions on a building’s height.

Judges in Granada reversed this decision because the project,in the Rambla de los Hileros area of Castell, had received a favourable technical report and had been given the go ahead by the provincial urban commission.

Torres also had a seven-year suspension from holding public office and a fine of 60,000 euros quashed on appeal. The town’s technical architect and council secretary, who were also hit with the same jail term and fine, were also successful in having their sentences overturned.

Speaking at a press conference after the appeal hearing, Torres blamed his original conviction on a Partido Popular (PP) witch-hunt.

“They [PP] went for me personally. I fell into the talons of this political Taleban. This is far from over. I will never forgive them for this,” he said in reference to a local PP campaign last year entitled Let’s Wreck the Mayor.

Provincial PSOE leader Antonio Martínez Caler was slightly more sedate in the press conference. “They wanted to destroy a person, both politically and personally. I would recommend to the PP a course in democratic values,” he said.

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