The former socialist mayor of Bigastro, José Joaquín Moya, has been admitted to an open prison in Murcia, where he will serve a four-year sentence for embezzlement of public funds, handed down to him by the Alicante Supreme Court.
The former mayor, who is now 74 years of age, appeared at the Guillermo Miranda Social Integration Centre (CIS) in Murcia late on Wednesday afternoon, where he has since remained.
Moya was initially sentenced to four and a half years in prison for keeping the money, a total of 70,440 euros, from the sale of municipal land, but he was able to benefit from the modification of the crime to embezzlement, which has seen the sentence reduced by six months.
The former municipal secretary Antonio Saseta, also punished for the same crime, saw his sentence reduced from three to two years.
Moya, who was the Bigastro mayor for 25 years, has also to compensate the Council with 70,440 euros plus another 26,000 in solidarity with the former secretary.
It is understood that Moya would have directly requested admission to the CIS in Murcia, where he is currently located, even though these are facilities intended for prisoners in an advanced state of reintegration, a requirement that in principle would not be met in the case of Moya.
However, he could also have used his age as leverage, one of the conditions established by the Penal Code, which would see him to go to the centre only to sleep.
