THE under-fire mayor of a popular Costa del Sol town has come under increased scrutiny after documents shown in court revealed that a luxury restaurant awarded to his son’s partner does not operate under an official licence and has not paid tens of thousands of euros in mandatory fees.
Jose Garcia Urbano, a big player in the conservative Partido Popular (PP), has overseen matters in the booming municipality of Estepona since 2011 but has come under intense pressure in recent months amid a wave of corruption allegations.
The case relates to the opening of Cielo Skybar, a plush restaurant which occupies the top three floors of the town’s public cultural building and was opened in September 2024.
The 20-year concession to run the venue was awarded in June 2023 to a newly created company called Inversions Delmar, headed by Nadia Odeh Nunez – the partner of one of the mayor’s sons.
According to court documents, the firm had no prior track record in the hospitality sector when it secured the contract for one of the hottest spots in the brand-new Mirador del Carmen complex.
Under the terms of the deal, the company agreed to pay an annual fee of around €27,000 to the town hall – significantly below commercial market rates for comparable areas.
The restaurant was also required to apply for the necessary licence to allow it to operate legally.
However, municipal financial reports submitted to court indicate that no opening licence has been formally issued and no concession fees have been paid since the contract was signed, even though the restaurant has been open for business.
The UDEF police financial crime unit suspects that Inversiones Delmar was set up to conceal the true beneficiary of the bumper deal.
Opposition parties including the PSOE and far-right Vox have called on the mayor to step down over the apparent irregularities.
This case is not the first time that Estepona’s long-standing mayor has found himself in hot water.
Last month, Marbella’s Public Prosecutor Office requested a five-and-a-half year prison term over separate allegations that Urbano misappropriated public money.
Prosecutors said the mayor should be jailed and banned from public office for ten years over accusations he handed a juicy no-work contract at the town hall to an ‘intimate female friend’ in 2023.
The indictment, signed by lead prosecutor Alejandra Gamez, states that the mayor issued a decree on February 13 that year to hire a woman, known only as Cristina P, as a temporary employee.
According to police, she was assigned to the town hall’s External Control Department to ‘gather information on the state of street cleaning, lighting, landscaping and street furniture’ around the town, which is home to over 4,500 British expats.
But during her employment she lived in Cordoba, making it ‘difficult’ for her to carry out the tasks in the flesh.
She remained employed until March 31 and received total remuneration of €5,376 for just 46 days ‘work’.
Aides close to the mayor have slammed the prosecution’s request as ‘legal nonsense based on a false statement’ by Cristina P, who they say underwent surgery during the period of the employment contract but did not request sick leave.
‘This is an unacceptable and unfair political and media campaign with the sole objective […] of damaging the dignity and political careers of the mayor of Estepona, in an attempt to remove him from the town hall and his commitment to this city,’ municipal sources told El Pais.
Prosecutors are also requesting three-and-a-half years in prison for Cristina P as an alleged accessory to the crime of embezzlement.
According to WhatsApp conversations seen by police, Garcia Urbano and the woman had an ‘intimate friendship’, with the mayor even sending her €21,000 of his own money between 2022 and 2023 so she could pay rent and expenses.
The revelations have prompted calls for Urbano to resign, with PSOE councillor Emma Molina telling the Olive Press last year: “Handing out public money to a person he had an intimate relationship with – and who she herself claims she never went to work – is enough to make him leave now.”
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