Estepona secret tax offices had large sums of money in bank accounts

The ‘Astapa’ investigation has revealed two separate networks set up to manage the payment of illegal commissions at Estepona Town Hall.
Although connected, each group had its own secret ‘office’ where the deals were made, according to the investigations carried out by the Financial and Tax Crimes Unit (UDEF).
Documents seized in the search of the municipal premises appear to confirm that the corrupt group had been operating since June 2003 when the PSOE came into power with the help of councillors from the Partido de Estepona (PES, former members of GIL).
It appears that the first and most important of these commissions ‘offices’ was controlled by Barrientos himself and managed by the head of the Mayor’s office, José Flores, along with Francisco Zamorano and the former planning coordinator, Pedro López.
The second and more modest ‘branch’ of this network was run, according to the police investigation, by Arturo Cebrián. Business people paying commissions either met with the group in municipal offices or, especially in the case of smaller building firms, spoke on the telephone to someone calling himself ‘Raúl’ who told them in which bank account they had to make the payment.
“No building licence, planning agreement or re-zoning deal”, said the anti-corruption specialists, would have been given the green light if it hadn’t previously passed through this ‘parallel administration’ at Estepona Town Hall. Detectives have had the collaboration of two key figures who were familiar with the workings of these clandestine ‘offices’ at Estepona Town Hall. Apparently these collaborators are people who had been involved but were regretful and went to the police.
By Thursday morning 13 of the 26 suspects arrested on Tuesday had appeared before the judge in charge of the case, Isabel Conejo, and had been released on bail, with sums ranging between 30,000 and 500,000 euros. Charges include bribery or accepting bribes, influence peddling, money laundering, embezzlement and fraud.
Police find 600,000 at estate agency
As well as the tons of paperwork and computers confiscated during the almost 40 searches carried out in relation to the ‘Astapa’
investigation, police have also seized various sums of money. The most significant of these was the 600,000 euros in cash found on the premises of a small real estate agency located in a central street of Estepona.
Police have also discovered large sums of money in bank accounts, some of these abroad, linked to some of the suspects arrested.

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