A former mayor of Santa Pola has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison for corruption at a private healthcare clinic that failed to pay its bills and employed his sister.
Miguel Zaragoza, mayor of the Partido Popular in the Costa Blanca municipality from 2003 to 2015, was convicted of fraud, bribery, and administrative malpractice along with former city councilor Jorge Perello. Both received six and a half years in prison.
Two doctors who ran the clinic in the Gran Alacant urbanization were also found guilty of the same charges and received the same sentence.
A clinic employee, Zaragoza’s sister and Perello’s partner, was sentenced to two years and three months in prison for “assisting” the bribery. Three former Santa Pola councilors were acquitted. The clinic was also banned from receiving any subsidies or tax benefits for four years. All verdicts can be appealed to the Valencia Supreme Court.
The Alicante Provincial Court ruled that Zaragoza and Perello had allowed Clinica Gran Alacant SL to operate a clinic in a municipal building without paying rent or utility bills.
The judges stated that the politicians had acted “in concert” with the clinic’s management. They also used their position to ensure that the facility hired “like-minded individuals,” namely members of the Partido Popular.
Zaragoza’s sister, Pilar, even stopped working because she “did not suffer any consequences” and continued to receive her full salary.
The court ordered Zaragoza and Perelló, in addition to the two convicted doctors, to pay the city council €109,371, of which €13,022 had already been paid by the defendant company.
