Ex-president's double trouble

MURCIA region’s former president, Pedro Antonio Sánchez is facing a €6 million fine and a four-year prison term over the Puerto Lumbreras auditorium corruption case.

The prosecutor’s office claims in its indictment that Sr Sánchez committed several crimes, including corruption, fraud and fraudulent management of public funds, and asks the judge to ban him from public office for 19 years.

The auditorium case dates back to 2005, when Sr Sánchez was mayor of Puerto Lumbreras. According to the court investigation, he allegedly contracted out the design of the facility to the architect Martín Lejárraja but then launched a fake competition for ideas to pretend that the tender was legal.

The construction was paid for with a €6 million grant from the regional government and the facilities were signed over by the council even though only 61% of the building work had been completed.

The prosecutor alleged in the indictment that the compulsory building certificates and reports had been forged to pretend the work had been completed. The builder and the council’s deputy secretary also face up to two years in prison.

Sr Sánchez may end up back in court for a different case after the chief prosecutor appealed the Regional Supreme Court (TSJM) decision to cancel a trial against him last year.

He was accused of corruption in the Pasarelas case, over several irregularities in the public tender for various works at the Nogalte watercourse in Puerto Lumbreras.

The TSJRM ruled that the investigating court violated Sr Sánchez’s basic rights because it exceeded investigation deadline by two days.

The prosecutor considered this to be ‘excessive’ and argued that Sr Sánchez had not been officially accused or charged and therefore the deadline had not been exceeded.