The case of alleged sexual harassment by the mayor of Estepona, José María García Urbano (PP), towards a local police officer, investigated by the town’s investigative court 5, has added a substantial ingredient in the last few hours. The woman who testified as a witness last Monday and who, according to the complaint, was forced to participate in various sexual encounters between García Urbano and the complainant, was hired as a position of trust by the mayor of Estepona on February 13, 2023.
The appointment of CPB “to develop special advisory and trust functions in the External Control Area” was recorded in the Official Gazette of the Province of March 13, 2023, as announced The Digital Closure and has checked this medium. The person designated there is the woman who testified on Monday as a witness, as several sources familiar with the procedure have confirmed to this newspaper. The woman informed the judge of this circumstance during the interrogation.
This introduces an economic element into the case. The opposition states that the hiring of this woman, without training or experience related to the position, points to the possible commission of crimes of embezzlement and/or prevarication, which would be added to those reported in the complaint that gave rise to the judicial investigation. According to this hypothesis, it would no longer be a question of alleged crimes of a sexual nature committed by García Urbano using his power as mayor, but also of an allegedly irregular use of public money.
For a month now, García Urbano has been investigated for a complaint in which he relates how a local police officer originally from Córdoba and stationed in Estepona and his partner (as described in the complaint) were forced to have sexual relations with him. under the explicit threat that the police officer would lose his job if they did not agree to his demands.
The mayor, who has governed Estepona with strong absolute majorities since 2011, maintains that he is being a “victim of a false” and “baseless” complaint that seeks to damage his personal dignity and his career with a “spurious purpose.” On November 18, he came to testify “voluntarily,” as he highlighted to disseminate the fact that he was doing so as an investigator, something that judicial sources later clarified. He only responded to his lawyer’s questions, and not to those of the Prosecutor’s Office and the complainant’s lawyer.
The council has not responded to the questions posed by this means regarding the appointment of CPB as a position of trust.
Appointment for three months
The appointment of CPB occurred by resolution of the mayor in February 2023. It is a strange moment because there were barely three months left for the municipal elections of May 28, when the ex officio dismissal of all municipal positions of trust occurred when the elections were dissolved. corporations. In July, when García Urbano signs the resolution with the positions of trust for the new mandate (the current one), his name no longer appears. There are a dozen positions with salaries between 41,150 and 63,900 euros. In this way, in three months the gross salary of a position of trust in Estepona ranges between 10,500 and 16,000 euros.
At the time, the appointment of this woman caused surprise among the opposition groups (PSOE and Vox), since her professional and academic background, linked to nursing according to various municipal sources, was not related to the functions to be performed in the “area of external control”. This area has responsibilities for beaches, privatizations, civil protection, strategic projects and services, according to the municipal website. The responsible councilor is Blas Ruzafa.
The municipal group of the PSOE, which points to a “possible misappropriation of public funds”, has requested in writing this Wednesday the resolution of the appointment, the dismissal and hiring decree, the registration of entry and exit of the woman from municipal offices and her economic remuneration. Vox is also interested in knowing which files the woman participated in, if she participated in any.
Emma Molina, spokesperson for the PSOE, believes that the hiring of the witness “far exceeds the mayor’s personal area, since they affect the public sphere as they are linked to the hiring of the complainant through municipal funds.” Sources from the council question whether he ever went to his workplace.
From witness to complainant
The woman appears in the report of the complaint as the partner of the complainant, a local police officer who on October 22 reported the mayor for forcing him, according to his version, to participate in sexual acts, sometimes with her presence.
However, until now he was only a witness, and as such he came to testify last Monday. His statement lasted around an hour and a half. She narrated “with detail and precision the entire ordeal that both she and the agent have experienced,” according to what the complainant’s lawyer told the media. Sources close to the case assure that the court has changed his procedural situation, becoming a complainant.
The original complaint states that he was also a victim of “harassment” and that he had participated in forced sexual encounters. Both “had to agree to all the indecorous sexual requests that Mr. García Urbano requested, since he always made it clear that the position of DJ official could be in danger,” according to that complaint, confirmed before the judge in early November. There would be graphic evidence of these situations that has been provided to the court, according to sources close to the investigation.
The woman accompanied García Urbano on a trip to Germany, according to the complaint, where it is stated that the mayor paid 2,000 euros per month to the couple so that they both spent as much time as possible in Estepona and looked for them. a rental apartment in the Panorama building on Avenida de España.
The alleged use of public funds in an alleged case of a sexual nature and abuse of power adds an economic derivative to the matter, which after the ratification of the complaint before the judge and the appearances of García Urbano and the woman remains open, to the Waiting for the judge to agree to further proceedings, issue an order for an abbreviated procedure or file it.
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