- José Manuel Butrón to be tried for bribery and workplace harassment
- The head of Urban Planning denounced the mayor who allegedly offered him a salary increase in 2012 in exchange for ignoring planning irregularities.
An Elche court has set the date for an oral trial against the mayor of Los Montesinos, José Manuel Butrón (PSOE), the deputy mayor Ana Belén Juárez and two council officials, for the 26th April, 24th May, 21st June and 5th July 2024 when it will hear details of an alleged crime of bribery, three administrative wrongdoing and one of workplace harassment.
The Prosecutor’s Office is asking for one year in prison for the accused while the private prosecution is requesting a sentence of eight to 10 years in prison and 25 years of disqualification from holding public office.
The Court has taken four years to investigate the case during which time it has rejected seven appeals from the defendants requesting that it be archived.
The complaint was made by the chief of Urban Planning in 2012 for alleged “offers of salary increases” by José Manuel Butrón, the mayor of Los Montesinos since gaining its independence in 1991, in exchange for his ” tolerance and silence regarding urban planning irregularities.”
When he refused there was an alleged process “of harassment initiated in order to get him to leave his job”, one of which was being moved out of his council office into a prefabricated room away from all other human contact. Amongst other things he says he was bullied, degraded and publicly discredited.
The three crimes of prevarication correspond to one for “each unfair disciplinary file opened” against the complainant.
During the long decade of procedural investigation by Torrevieja’s Investigative Court Number 2, the PSOE-PSPV has failed to adopt any disciplinary measures against Butrón as the party believes that he was not being investigated for corruption in office. He also failed to act when the court opened an oral trial in 2020, with the ethical code establishing resignation in such cases.
In the recent Municipal elections, held last May, Butrón once again revalidated his position as mayor of Los Montesinos, a municipality of five thousand residents, for his ninth municipal term of office.
He is not only one of the longest standing mayors in the Valencian Community, he is the only to govern since the municipality achieved independence from Almoradí in 1991.
Butrón won the election, improving his share of the vote with respect to the previous term in which he obtained nine of the 13 councillors and 64% of electoral support. He has one of the clearest socialist majorities in the Valencian region.
