Investigating Judge 2, Castro Urdiales has ordered the imprisonment of the mayor, Fernando Muguruza

But now the judge considered that to prevent Muguruza destroying evidence of their involvement in urban operations that have benefited employers, he should be held on remand

Investigating Judge 2, Castro Urdiales has ordered the imprisonment of the mayor, Fernando Muguruza

He believes that there is evidence he participated in a "web of corruption" to benefit urban promoters.

The owner of the Investigating Court 2 of Castro Urdiales, Acayro Luis Sanchez, has today issued an order decreeing the mayor be sent to prison without bail, the mayor belongs to no political party, since he was expelled from the Regionalist Party of Cantabria (PRC) in 2007.

The case being investigated covers four areas of development. Two licenses were granted for a hundred villas and 46 houses. Two other areas were under development, but the judge has stopped them. The judge has opened more than half a dozen criminal cases of alleged irregularities in planning and recruitment.

Since October the judge had withdrawn the mayors powers of planning and contracting by court order. But now the judge considered that to prevent Muguruza destroying evidence of their involvement in urban operations that have benefited employers, he should be held on remand.

The order issued today, in Castro Urdiales, claims that he had downgraded hundreds of thousands of square metres of land illegally, even against the express warnings of the Regional Planning Commission, who have used the land as the Consistory sees it as unfit, because it slopes, being fragmented or because it is already in the public domain.

The mayors entry into prison leaves this City Council with a minority consisting of nine council members, six of them suspects in various crimes. Although he declined comment on the contents of the case, the defence has said that tomorrow Muguruza will file an appeal before the High Court of Cantabria for a repeal.




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