Guardia Civil officers have arrested the current mayor of Totana, José Martínez Andreo (PP), the Local Police chief and the municipal secretary as part of the 'Totem' council corruption inquiry. The Town Hall building has been evacuated while officers search for evidence. Totana judge, María Asunción Navarro, has remanded mayor José Martínez Andreo (PP) in custody without bail
Two others also arrested last Thursday - Town Hall general secretary, Laura Bastida, Juan Francisco Casanova - were released after each posting bail of €20,000 euros.
In total, twelve people were arrested on Monday, Thursday and Friday last week on a variety of charges including: bribery, falsifying public documents, giving false testimony, fraud, influence-trafficking, money-laundering, prevarication and embezzlement - relating to the expropriation of 2.2 million square metres of farmland to build more than five thousand new residential properties.
the first six arrestees have been brought before the judge handling the investigation. The main suspect is former mayor, Juan Morales (PP), who now represents the party on the provincial council. His current girlfriend and former wife, María del Carmen Jordán, are also implicated.
During a search of Ms Jordán's home, a number of council documents were found, which, according to a source close to the inquiry, should never have been in the possession of a private individual. Similar documents were found during a search of the consultancy owned by Ms Jordán earlier this week. When asked about them, Ms Jordán claimed that she was merely a secretary, saying that her former husband, Juan Morales, was the one responsible for delegating her work.
The same sources reveal that a briefcase containing documentation highly relevant to the inquiry was found in possession of Mr Morales's lawyer, Javier Cegarra, whose company was contracted to advise the council on urbanisation issues during Mr Morales's entire tenure (2003-2007) in return for a monthly fee of €1,800 euros. However, Mr Cegarra was sacked when Mr Andreo came to office following the regional and local elections earlier this year.
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