Former mayor of Colmenar acquitted of corruption

A MALAGA criminal court has acquitted the former mayor of Colmenar, Pedro Fernandez Palomo, charged with urban planning corruption.

The public prosecutor was asking a year in prison and an eight-year ban from public office.

Another local resident, who was also acquitted, was charged in the case and was facing a year in prison, a fine and a demolition order for two houses built on non-urban land. The crime against him has prescribed.

The judge considered that it was not proved that the former mayor had knowingly given the go-ahead for the work which was carried out.

Meanwhile, the former Mayor of Canillas de Aceituno, Jose Manuel Aranda, is also due to stand trial this week for allegedly granting a licence to build a house on non-urban land.

The public prosecutor is asking for four years in prison and a 20-year ban from holding public office.

The current mayor, Pilar Ortiz, and another five councillors and former councillors from the socialist party, all of whom were members of the junta which approved the project, will also stand trial.

Aranda was forced to abandon the position of mayor last March due to another sentence for urban planning corruption.

Photo credit: romanoski