Former Orihuela councillor Martina Scheurer Wagner has been sentenced to three years in prison for leaking confidential information and manipulating the 2014 tender for beach bars along the Orihuela Costa.
The Eleventh Section of the Alicante Provincial Court, based in Elche, convicted the former Green Party councillor for beaches and the coast of administrative misconduct linked to fraud and of disclosing privileged information.
Scheurer was also banned from holding public office for a total of ten-and-a-half years.
The court found that she supplied businessman Thomas Herteux Wolfgang with advance information about the forthcoming tender, giving his company, Chiringuitos del Sol, an unfair advantage over rival bidders.
The judgment is not final and may be appealed before the Supreme Court.
Businessman also convicted
Herteux, who represented Chiringuitos del Sol, was sentenced to a total of three-and-a-half years in prison.
He received 18 months for participating in administrative misconduct linked to fraud, as well as a further two years for using privileged information supplied by a public official.
The court also barred him for two years and nine months from receiving public subsidies, bidding for public contracts or obtaining tax and Social Security benefits.
Scheurer received 18 months in prison and a seven-year ban from public office for administrative misconduct and fraud. She was handed a further 18-month sentence and an additional three-and-a-half-year disqualification for disclosing privileged information.
Tender process halted
The case centred on the contract to operate seasonal services on Orihuela’s beaches.
Chiringuitos del Sol had originally secured the concession in 2006. The agreement ran for an initial four years, with three possible annual extensions, and expired at the end of 2012.
Before Scheurer took responsibility for beaches and the coast, her predecessor had begun preparing documents for a new tender. However, that process was halted following the change of councillor.
Scheurer, who is of German origin, served in Orihuela’s former three-party government involving the Greens, PSOE and CLR-Claro. Former CLR-Claro councillor Pedro Mancebo brought the private prosecution in the case.
The court concluded that Scheurer and Herteux acted together to ensure the contract returned to Chiringuitos del Sol, to the detriment of the municipality.
Tourist-quality certificate
According to the judgment, the defendants initially relied upon a “principle of continuity” that allowed Chiringuitos del Sol to continue operating the beach bars throughout the 2013 season.
The court considered this additional year crucial because it gave the company time to obtain the “Q” for Tourism Quality certificate.
That certification was subsequently included as a mandatory requirement in the 2014 tender. It had not appeared in either the 2006 contract or the specifications prepared by Scheurer’s predecessor.
The judges found that Scheurer told Herteux before April 22, 2013, that the certificate would be included in the future tender conditions—well before the documents were drafted or made public.
Chiringuitos del Sol applied for certification for each of its establishments and its headquarters on April 22, 2013. The certificates were issued from October 9 following a process lasting more than five months.
By the time the tender opened, the company could therefore meet a condition that rival bidders could not realistically satisfy before the application deadline.
The tender resolution was signed on January 22, 2014. The court said the defendants had by then done “everything possible” to prevent or severely restrict the contract from being awarded to any company other than Chiringuitos del Sol.
Outstanding debt of more than €934,000
The judgment also highlighted that the company owed Orihuela Council €934,443 in coastal fees relating to the period from 2006 to 2012.
Despite payment being a contractual obligation, the debt had reportedly never been settled. The court found that both defendants knew about it before the new tender began, but there was no evidence that steps were taken to demand or collect the money before the procurement procedure started.
Herteux nevertheless submitted a declaration with the company’s bid stating that it had no outstanding debts with Orihuela Council.
Meanwhile, competing companies were excluded after their administrative documents were examined because they did not possess the mandatory tourism-quality certificate.
The court concluded that Scheurer placed Chiringuitos del Sol in a privileged position by disclosing confidential information. Her actions breached the principles of transparency, equal treatment, free competition and open access to public tenders, the judges ruled.
The trial was held between March and June 2025, although the judgment was not delivered until more than a year later.
Scheurer voluntarily resigned from the Green Party after proceedings were opened against her. The party no longer has representation on Orihuela Council, although Cambiemos—formed through the merger of several left-wing groups, including the Greens—continues to hold seats.
Despite the criminal proceedings, Chiringuitos del Sol was subsequently awarded the principal contracts to operate Orihuela Costa’s beach bars under the PP-Vox municipal government. Both defendants retain the right to appeal their convictions.
