At the end of the last decade José María García Urbano was a shining star in the political firmament. Mayor since 2011 in Estepona (Málaga, 76,975 inhabitants), in May 2019 he became the most voted in Spain in municipalities with more than 50,000 residents: almost 70% of the votes, 21 of 25 councilors.
It was his peak. Trained (he is a notary and property registrar), of humble origin, capable of giving a friendly veneer (pedestrian walks, flowers, murals, cleanliness, culture) to a municipality besieged by debt and depressed by a police macro-operation against corruption that I had put him in the Marbella league, this man was being raffled off. Above all in his party: the PP promoted him, first making him a deputy (in the short-lived legislature of 2016) and later placing him as vice president of the Federation of Municipalities of Spain. Elías Bendodo even launched the probe balloon of his possible landing as a candidate for mayor of Malaga. Francisco de la Torre punctured the balloon with a swipe of his hand.
Today, that star is more of a hot potato for the PP. García Urbano, who is now 61 years old, is being investigated by an investigative court that received a complaint from a local police officer stationed in Estepona. There, various sexual encounters between the complainant, his partner and García Urbano are narrated, which would have been forced by him using his position of power over the agent, for which alleged documentary and graphic evidence has been provided.
Payments to the couple are also described, and this week the woman revealed to the judge that she was hired by the councilor as a position of trust for just three months, in which she was able to pocket around 15,000 euros. The alleged existence of videos and payments further clouds the issue.
García Urbano, who did everything possible to keep the complaint from becoming known (an online publication was even removed prior to being admitted for processing), assures that what is said there are baseless falsehoods and that they only seek to tarnish his reputation, so it asks for your flat file. But a month has passed since it was admitted, he has already given his explanations to the judge (without answering the prosecutor or the accusation) and the judge not only has not filed it but is still carrying out proceedings. Both the agent and the woman have ratified the complaint, and the latter has gone from witness to complainant by judicial decision.
An earthquake in Estepona
Beyond the clarification of criminal responsibilities, if any, the case has already caused an earthquake in Estepona and great reputational damage to the public figure. A scandal of a sexual nature does not add votes in the conservative spectrum.
The PSOE asks him to withdraw while his legal situation is clarified, but he has responded that it does not even cross his mind. “I will only leave when I consider that I have fulfilled my function, my duty and my obligation with this city or when the neighbors want it, but not for other circumstances, and even less of a political nature,” he replied in the plenary session on November 21.
Numerically it remains strong. 17 of 25 councilors, very disciplined, with a hard core very close to him not only politically. Ana Velasco, for example: she has been an administrator of her companies. Or Salvador Pedraza, with whom he managed a millionaire patrimonial company with Luxembourg roots with multiple interests in Spain, according to him only as executors. Another is Blas Ruzafa, whose area hired the witness of the alleged sexual harassment as a position of trust, despite not having academic or professional background for the position.
There are also those who have left without explaining why: the last one, the Councilor for Culture. Also who was its dolphin and today is one of its main critics, Manuel Aguilar, at the head of the Vox municipal group.
From business dealings with fugitives to patrons of Culture
Before becoming mayor, García Urbano flirted with the Andalusian Party and with a candidacy in his hometown, Coín, until Javier Arenas offered him Estepona, according to a source familiar with that. He was an associate of a front man of Juan Antonio Roca, convicted and fugitive from Operation Malaya (Juan Hoffman, son of a prominent Nazi claimed by the Allies as a refugee on the Costa del Sol). And through his notary office (which he gave up when he became mayor) and his registry (which he maintains and from which he obtains his income) some of the main real estate operations on the Costa del Sol passed.
For years, García Urbano has skirted this background and carefully polished the image of a good manager, using all the tools provided by absolute municipal power. Namely: public works (with special attachment to decoration), good relationship with the media and spheres of power, budget money, discretionary decisions.
In this sense, the agent’s complaint, focused on sexual practices, contains an apparently accessory but very significant phrase: after saying that he had to agree to the mayor’s “disgusting proposals” because he had no other choice, the complainant says in parentheses: “Many people are afraid of him because of the power he wields.” This medium has heard similar testimonies in recent years.
That fear is combined with a very effective use of public relations. “He has been able to cajole people that the town is very beautiful. And there are a large number of favors and created interests,” says a source from the municipality. He has handed out awards, sponsorships and grants everywhere while beautifying the town. During this time he has often appeared in the media as a very capable manager, the “miracle” mayor made headlines. A great marketing success helped: as soon as he became mayor, he installed a counter so that everyone could see minutely and daily how the debt fell under his mandate.
He also likes to be seen as a champion of sustainable, beautiful and friendly cities, as well as a patron of Culture. Sometimes that impetus has led him to crazy projects. In 2019, the after-dinner programs opened with a woman who, screaming, slid down “the largest slide in Spain”, until the final blow. After verifying that this was a risk to physical integrity, he ended up installing it in the town hall for his officials to use. This way they would work happier, he reasoned. He also promoted the largest orchid garden in the country, a 17-meter-high flowerpot or an artificial geyser in the sea.
Family and business connections
His unique exercise of power is not limited to extravagant projects. In the last two years this medium has revealed a series of episodes in several successive investigations that reveal a particular conception of municipal power.
The city council has sold premises in a privileged area to the construction company of a former partner and friend of García Urbano (Bonifacio Solís) for a quarter of their real value in a file full of irregularities; has paid that same construction company 16.3 million for the lavish Mirador del Carmen tower, after the contract (challenged by the College of Architects without ever going into the substance of the challenge) skyrocketed 1.8 million to make an exhibition hall that was planned from the beginning; For a ridiculous price, he has awarded the operation of three floors of restaurant and terrace in that tower to the company of his son’s partner, established weeks before in his councilor’s office, where the mayor has his own companies domiciled; He has placed another son as councilor, following the resignation of two elected councillors, and then he has left as a director for the same construction company as his friend.
It is the same construction company that has carried out the city’s major public works in the last decade, from the coastal path to the athletics stadium, and a good part of the private concession in public space, such as the new Laguna Village.
None of these matters have ever come to court. Just the case of a community of owners who wanted to expropriate a private street. A judge warned the mayor that she would fine him if he insisted on disobeying the sentence that ruled in favor of the neighbors.
1.2 million in positions and advisors
The lack of oversight helps that the opposition (four PSOE councillors, three Vox, one non-affiliated) is stifled by a meager allocation decided by mayoral decree: none of the eight councilors are released and they earn 0 euros in salary. They only receive 300 euros gross per plenary session and 30 for each of the three commissions. For the group, a fixed amount of 300 and 50 per councilor.
On the contrary, five of García Urbano’s councilors receive 74,900 euros per year each and another five earn 49,174. He also has 12 hand-picked positions of trust with emoluments between 41,150 and 63,900 euros per year. All advisors total almost 600,000 euros. García Urbano does not charge from the council, but in total Estepona pays government councilors and trusted advisors just over 1.2 million annually. To the two groups and eight councilors who must be in opposition, he allocates about 40,000 to distribute among everyone.
Hence Emma Molina, the socialist spokesperson, laments: “This is how difficult it is to even supervise the day to day. “We do not have money for legal advice that allows us to investigate corruption matters or architects and technicians to advise us.”
The mayor also breaks the law with his declaration of assets: despite it being mandatory active advertising information (that is, it must appear on the municipal website), he has decided that he will not deliver it even if the opposition asks for it. The PSOE, which has claimed her more than 40 times in the last decade, has only allowed her to see her with the secretary in front of her to avoid photos and after signing an appearance certificate.
Now there are councilors who see him as weak and defensive, and glimpse unusual details. “It’s strange that he hasn’t gone on the attack, which is his style.” A murky sexual scandal has come to alter the territory that García Urbano built for himself.
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