A procedural error has delayed the court appearance of Carolina Gracia, former mayor of Orihuela and current PSOE spokesperson, who had been summoned to testify as a suspect in an investigation into an alleged offence of revealing confidential information.
Gracia appeared at the Santa Lucía courthouse on Wednesday morning after receiving a summons at her official Orihuela City Council email account. However, due to an error in the notification process, her statement before the judge did not go ahead as planned.
She is now expected to be summoned again, with a new date reportedly set for 5 November, unless the summons is challenged within the allowed three-day period.
The case concerns a press release issued by Gracia in relation to a compatibility request submitted by a senior municipal official. The official had asked Orihuela City Council for permission to carry out a second professional activity as an associate professor at a public university in the province.
According to the complaint, Gracia accessed information linked to that request in October after authorisation from the mayor. Days later, she allegedly referred to details from the file in a press statement sent to the media.
The complainant argues that the information was confidential and included personal data that should not have been made public. The official has joined the case as a private accusation alongside the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The Prosecutor’s Office considers that the facts could amount to an alleged offence of revealing secrets under article 417 of the Penal Code. If the case proceeds and Gracia is eventually convicted, she could face a prison sentence of two to four years, and disqualification from public office or public employment for one to three years.
The investigation is still at a preliminary stage. The judge must first hear statements from the parties involved before deciding whether there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial.
The complaint claims that councillors have the right to access municipal information as part of their oversight role, but says that this access must be used only for legitimate institutional purposes. It argues that passing such information to the media, or using it for political or personal purposes, is prohibited.
The complainant also alleges that the release of the information damaged her reputation. She claims that the press statement did not simply refer to the existence of her compatibility request, but presented the matter in a way that could lead to public criticism or ridicule.
She further argues that some of the information circulated was inaccurate, including claims about her employment status and salary.
Gracia, however, has denied any wrongdoing. She has maintained that she accessed only a compatibility request document, not a full personal file, and that she was entitled to do so as part of her work as an opposition councillor.
She has also argued that she did not publish private personal data, but merely made public the fact that the official had requested permission to carry out another professional activity. According to Gracia, her political group’s intention was to explain that it would not support the compatibility request when it came before the municipal plenary session, which is responsible for deciding such matters.
Gracia attended court accompanied by two lawyers: Milagros Lacárcel, who is also a PSOE councillor in Orihuela, and Iván Gómez Peñalver, a PSOE councillor in Elche.
The delayed appearance attracted attention because it came during a politically sensitive period in Orihuela. Mayor Pepe Vegara is also due to appear in court in a separate case, known as the “Agendas case”, in which he is accused of alleged tax fraud and falsification of commercial documents relating to events dating back to 2005, when he was an adviser to ITV Vega Baja.
For now, the case against Gracia remains under investigation, and no trial has yet been opened.
