Former mayor sentenced

JOSE MANUEL ARANDA, former mayor of Canillas de Aceituno, is the latest in an ever-lengthening list of politicians to be sentenced over planning permissions granted for construction on green belt areas.

At a hearing at Malaga City’s number one Criminal Court on Monday (April 25), Aranda admitted to having granted the licences mentioned, although he insisted that he was not informed that they were not legal, and accepted a sentence of a €3,240 fine and a 20-year ban from public office.

Along with the former mayor, who had to abandon office in 2011 over the case, another two people, the developer and a technician, are also on trial.

While the technician told the court that she never questioned licences which had been issued by the relevant authorities, the developer said that he had asked the mayor if he could build in the countryside to which Aranda had agreed freely.