Eight of the 20 suspects arrested in the ‘Operación Poniente’ corruption case in El Ejido have now been remanded to custody by the investigating judge

Eight of the 20 suspects arrested in the ‘Operación Poniente’ corruption case in El Ejido have now been remanded to custody by the investigating judge, including the Mayor, Juan Enciso, who Judge Montserrat Peña decided should be refused bail after five hours of questioning on Friday. The head of Instruction Court No. 2 in Almería City took the same decision for the municipal auditor, José Alemán.

The businessman, Juan Antonio Galán, considered the head of the Madrid branch of the corruption network, was the last to be questioned by the judge and was sent to prison on Saturday. The three joined José Amate, a former manager of the municipal services company, El Sur, which is believed to be at the centre of the corruption. Amate is the administrator of Arborimar and Maviroad, two companies which works inspectors discovered on an inspection last month were employing staff illegally.

His sons and two sons in law are also on remand, while Amate’s two daughters were granted 50,000 € bail by the judge. The Mayor’s wife and daughter were released with charges.The eighth suspect sent to prison in the case is the businessman Ambrosio Cuevas.
The corruption network is believed to have misappropriated through El Sur and a network of companies linked to the municipal services company more than 150 million € over a period of at least six years. The charges against the group following the raid on El Ejido Town Hall last Tuesday range from money laundering, misappropriation of public funds and document falsification, to bribery and influence peddling.