Former city mayor to be tried for embezzling over 70,000 euros of public funds on Spain’s Costa Blanca

BIGASTRO will see it’s former mayor, Jose Joaquin Moya, brought before a public jury next week for two crimes of embezzling public funds.

His alleged accomplice, a former auditor at Bigastro City Council, is also expected to explain his actions.

The accusations surround missing thousands of euros paid for council land that were intended for municipal accounts.

A 30,000 square metre plot was auctioned off in 2007 for 2,250,000 euros but two of the cash payments went straight into the pockets of the two accused.

Sources say the first amount taken unlawfully was in January 2007, prior to the auction itself.

That 26,000 euros was from the company that coincidentally won the auction in February of the same year.

A subsequent cash payment was taken after the auction, but not properly documented.

The total amount taken meant for council funds was 70,440 euros.

The prosecution team is demanding a six-year prison sentence for the former mayor, and three years and nine months for the auditor.