Laurence Dollimore
TWO Andalucian politicians have been forced to resign after becoming involved in an expenses scandal involving the use of the BlaBlaCar travel app.
Luis Cano Palomino, of left-wing party Adelante Andalucia, in Jaen, will hand in his resignation today after charging people to travel with him on the ride-sharing platform while also claiming expenses for the same journeys from the Junta.
BlaBlaCar connects drivers and riders headed in the same direction and allows riders to pay drivers enough to cover reasonable expenses, like petrol.
But Palomino’s resignation will be the second of its kind this week after Almeria’s Ciudadanos representative Andres Samper was also caught offering trips in similar circumstances.
Palomino came clean yesterday, however it was not clear how many trips he had made or how much he had charged riders.
Podemos Andalucia said it has accepted his resignation, ensuring that the leadership ‘was unaware of these events until yesterday’.
In a statement, it branded Palomino’s actions as ‘intolerable’ and ‘incompatible with the new political ethics’ of the Junta.
Podemos’s Teresa Rodriguez has since called for the removal of ‘unjustified expenses’.
It comes as the budget this year detailed how parliamentarians who live between 201 and 300km from the Junta can charge €340 per month in travel expenses.
Maria del Carmen Barranco will replace Cano Palomino.
