Council seeks to void the 2008 garbage concession after a criminal court found the winning consortium benefited from privileged tender information
ORIHUELA — Orihuela City Council is preparing to pursue a claim of more than €23 million against the consortium awarded the municipality’s waste collection contract in 2008, following a criminal ruling that found the tender had been compromised by the use of privileged information.
Mayor Pepe Vegara will ask councillors at next Thursday’s ordinary plenary meeting to approve the formal review of the original contract award. The procedure could result in the September 2008 council resolution being declared null and void.
That resolution awarded the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of municipal waste, together with street-cleaning services, to a joint venture formed by SUFI, Liasur and Gobancast. The consortium was later renamed Orihuela Capital de la Vega Baja.
Although the contract was terminated in 2012 and the service has since been managed directly by the council, its financial and legal consequences remain unresolved.
The consortium has been seeking €10.93 million from the council, plus interest and legal costs, over the termination of the agreement. Orihuela now argues that no compensation should be paid and that, instead, the contractor may owe the municipality more than twice that amount.
Brugal ruling triggers contract review
The move follows the judgment delivered in January by the Alicante Provincial Court in the Brugal corruption case.
The ruling found it proven that a SUFI representative and other defendants obtained and used confidential information relating to the conditions and processing of the 2008 public tender.
According to the judgment, that information gave the consortium an improper advantage when preparing its bid, harmed the council and disadvantaged competing companies. The joint venture subsequently secured the concession.
The criminal proceedings resulted in the conviction of nine of the 33 defendants.
Among those convicted was Mónica Lorente, Orihuela’s Partido Popular mayor from 2007 to 2011. She was sentenced to four months in prison and barred from public office for 20 years for misconduct in public office committed in conjunction with fraud. Three former councillors were also convicted.
The council’s legal report argues that the findings of the criminal court provide grounds for declaring the contract award legally void.
It further maintains that the contractor should not be entitled to compensation for lost profits, industrial profit, legitimate expectations, unjust enrichment or any other economic benefit arising from an award affected by criminal wrongdoing.
Council calculates losses at €23.06 million
Technical reports commissioned by the council estimate that the municipality suffered losses totalling €23,066,233.
The calculation includes the cost of taking the waste service back under direct municipal control, as well as the staff, vehicles, equipment and other resources required to continue operating it after the concession was terminated.
Should the plenary approve the official review, the council would argue that the €10,931,260 claimed by the consortium in the administrative courts is not payable.
Instead, Orihuela would begin legal action to recover the €23.06 million identified in the technical assessment.
The final amount could be adjusted to account for sums legitimately owed to the former concessionaire, any additional damages established during the proceedings and the council’s claimed reputational harm.
The contractor’s case against the council was filed before Administrative Court Number 1 in Elche. Those proceedings were suspended while the related Brugal criminal case was being heard by the Alicante Provincial Court.
Interested parties to be given right to respond
If councillors approve the proposal, the decision will be formally notified to the affected parties, who will have 15 working days to submit representations.
The file will also be opened for public consultation for 20 days. Notice of the proceedings will be published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Alicante and on the council’s electronic portal.
The review will not itself determine the final financial liability. It will begin an administrative process in which the interested parties can challenge the council’s legal and financial conclusions.
Waste service overhaul remains delayed
The dispute comes as Orihuela continues efforts to modernise a waste service that has operated under direct municipal control since 2012.
In May 2025, the council approved transferring the service to the municipal company Servicio de Gestión Medioambiental, known as SGM. The company is managed by Dámaso Aparicio, a former Partido Popular councillor and adviser.
The new model was expected to begin operating during the final quarter of 2025 but has yet to be implemented.
The governing Partido Popular-Vox coalition is considering investing almost €20 million over six years to improve the service.
Much of the current operation still relies on equipment inherited from the former contractor under the 2008 tender. The ageing vehicle fleet and persistent logistical problems have led to repeated breakdowns, service disruption and growing public frustration.
In March, the council awarded five contract lots to four companies for the replacement of most of the municipal waste-collection fleet during 2026.
The contracts, worth a combined €3,493,788, represent the largest single investment in the service since it was brought under municipal control.
They form part of a wider investment programme exceeding €6 million. Measures already launched include an €800,000 replacement programme for waste and recycling bins and a €1.8 million tender for more than 2,500 new containers, including units for the separate collection of organic waste.
