The High Court of Justice of the Community has condemned the former mayor of Torrevieja and the PP regional deputy, Pedro Angel Hernandez Mateo, to three years in prison and seven years of ineligibility to serve in office for his part in the awarding of municipal garbage collection services in 2004 to Necso (Acciona). The resolution also condemns him to pay a fine of 10,500 euros and indemnify the City with another 12,000. The PP in Torrevieja say that the former mayor will appeal the sentence
It seems that Sr Mateo ignored advice from his own people and went with that of three legal advisers, one of which had connections with the company that won the contract. He then railroaded the decision through the council at a meeting of the Tenders Committee by adding two councillors who he knew would vote favourably. And, for the first time in his 15 years as mayor, he spoke up at the meeting to avoid having to use his casting vote.
I seem to remember that there was previous controversy surrounding the former mayor when he made a fortune out of land that he bought at rural prices and then sold a few years later once it had been approved for urban development.
Is it any wonder that people question whether there are any honest politicians in this country!
PS For the benefit of my Spanish readers, “going down” is an English expression which means sent to prison (as in going down to the cells which were traditionally situated beneath the courts). It also has other connotations which we won’t go into here!
Other English expressions that refer to the same thing include; “spending time at Her Majesty’s pleasure”, “banged up” and “doing porridge” although “banged up” can also mean a lady is pregnant.
Before we accuse Spaniards of having odd expressions, we should first of all consider our own language.
No comments:
Post a Comment