His day in court

The Bigastro ex mayor, José Joaquín Moya appeared in court yesterday and admitted that municipal employees had been involved in work on the project next to his house at Vistabella. When he was asked if he had paid for the work he told the judge that he did not know and that he would have to check back on his accounts.

In a further twist to the case, it seems that the Bigastro council surveyor had also been involved in the project. He was the one who drew up the plans and applied for the licences but again Mr Moya does not recall whether he paid for that work.

With regards to the two council workers who had been reported at the site, the ex mayor said that one had come to take care of the chickens and the other to look after the garden. Both, he claims, visited outside working hours; the man who came to look after the chickens was given lunch and the other was paid a small amount for his efforts.

Moya claims that the allegations made against him were a ploy by the opposition party prior to the 2007 municipal elections and adds that he did not explicitly authorise the use of council vehicles after hours.

Not surprisingly, over one hundred of the council workforce signed a letter of support for the mayor denying the facts of the case at the time.