Santa Pola Police Uniform Fraud Case Trial Date Set

The head of the Santa Pola Local Police, José Miguel Zaragoza, along with former councillor Antonio Pérez Huerta, and representatices of suppliers, amongst others, will be tried for the alleged crimes of fraud by the authority or official, administrative prevarication, documentary falsification and embezzlement of public funds in a trial that will be heard between 18 and 25 September.

The case dates back to June 2017, when several agents and commanders of the Local Police were arrested after an operation by the National Police, after possible irregularities in the purchase of material for the Santa Pola Local Police were investigated, fundamentally, uniforms between 2011 and 2015.

The Santa Pola Council, then governed by the quadripartite formed by PSPV, Compromís, EU and Sí se Puede, plus two defectors from Cs, paralysed some contracts and reviewed the previous ones established by the PP due to imbalances between the amounts paid and the material served, as well as the presentation of three companies from the same groups in the minor contracts that opted for the service of material for the Local Police and Civil Protection. The National Police collected evidence of a possible plot between the companies involved, all of them from the Riera Uniforms group, and the defendants.

After the arrests and subsequent releases, the Santa Pola council decided to relieve the head of the Local Police, José Miguel Zaragoza, but in 2019, with the change of government and the return of the PP, he was reinstated in office and the complaint archived.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Santa Pola City Council have filed charges and have requested between two and three years in prison for those involved, in addition to several years of disqualification. The defendants requested the dismissal. Last February, the Court overturned the last appeal of one of the defendants.

In addition to this case, there is another regarding uniforms, referring to the Gil de los Ríos group of companies, in which the same public officials are being investigated, in addition to three managers of the company. This cause is also in abbreviated procedure and the council has already made the request for penalties on the defendants.

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