Tarifa mayor in allegedly illegal bank transaction

Juan Andrés Gil

TARIFA (Agencies) Mayor Juan Andrés Gil (PP) apparently signed a decree whereby Banco Santander granted a credit of €500,000 to Tarifa Council, which is backed by the Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO), set up to help municipalities pay suppliers. This is normal procedure - except that the Mayor owns a company, called Somavista and registered in Facinas, the presidency of which he resigned two days before signing the decree on October 6, and is now headed by his wife. Somavista, of which Gil is 100% registered owner, is an agent/representative of Banco Santander. Therein lies the illegality, for it is not allowed for a publicly elected official to act in favour of an entity of which he or she is part, either as an executive or not. Carlos Núñez, who heads an opposition party, ULT (Unidad Liberal por Tarifa) has already announced that>>>

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he will be seeking an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor. Other parties say they will follow. As for Gil himself, he says that it is all a plot by ULT to discredit him. He adds that he has not made any money on the transaction, as the credit was obtained through the Santander office in Tarifa, and not in Facinas, which is in another municipality.

Nevertheless, the opposition parties in Tarifa say that he lied to them a month ago when the Council was told about the operation. Gil said then that he had no relation with the bank.

According to the Law of Incompatibilities of Personnel at the Service of Public Administrations, the Mayor cannot be a Director of any company "as long as the activities of same are directly related to the department, organization or entity in which the person serves." In other words, conflict of interests.