Former Torrevieja PP councillor to go on trial for misconduct in public office

On Thursday, April 10th, the Alicante Provincial Court will preside over the trial of Carmen Gómez (PP), who served as the Councillor for Contracting, Parks, and Gardens of the Torrevieja City Council in 2015. She is subject to an 11-year disqualification for misconduct in the construction of a park.

Gómez is being accused of irregularities in the awarding of services related to the Employment Workshop. The director of the workshop during that period will also be tried, and he is facing an additional 11 years of disqualification.

The Prosecutor’s Office maintains that the defendants failed to follow the legally established procedures regarding free competition and publicity in 2015. This was achieved by dividing the price and splitting the scope of the services in 2015, which resulted in a direct award of €118,000 in construction materials for the park’s construction.

In 2022, the former councilwoman resigned after being investigated during a press conference with the mayor, Eduardo Dolón, during which she defended her innocence. The trial will continue on April 29th and May 8th.

In 2023, the Eleventh Section of the Alicante Provincial Court sentenced África Celdrán (PSOE), a former Torrevieja City Councillor for Festivals, to three and a half years of special disqualification from public employment or office for misconduct, for irregularities performed in 2015.

The Court proclaimed the judgement final after the parties expressed their decision not to appeal, having been issued as a result of a plea agreement reached by the prosecution and the defendant’s defence.

The court ruling established the fact that the former Torrevieja City Councillor for Festivities executed a contract with a publishing house on August 13th, 2015, for the publication of the programmes for the Fiestas de la Purísima and the May Fair, despite not having the authority to do so.

The Court stated that the defendant failed to adhere to “the regulations governing the procurement of services by public administrations, as outlined in the Public Sector Contracts Law,” in this case.

In February 2017, África Cerdán resigned from her role as a councillor on the Torrevieja City Council after discovering that the Prosecutor’s Office was pursuing an 11-year suspension for these actions. She declared in a statement that she reached this conclusion “following the commencement of oral proceedings against me.”