The corruption trial against Orihuela’s mayor, José Vegara, has been pushed back yet again — this time because the presiding judge suffered a last-minute medical emergency.
Vegara, along with three businessmen, is accused of a major tax fraud scheme dating back almost 20 years, long before he entered politics. Prosecutors claim the group cheated Spain’s tax authorities out of nearly €1 million through fake invoices and “creative accounting.”
The case, to be heard in the Orihuela Criminal Court No. 1, was due to start this Friday but will now kick off on November 21, with a further hearings on November 28. It’s the second delay in the case — the first was ten months ago when Vegara’s lawyer was too ill to appear.
The prosecution wants seven years in prison for the now-embattled mayor, accusing him and his partners at ITV Vega Baja, a vehicle inspection company, of falsifying documents and dodging €917,935 in taxes in 2005 — including €760,000 in corporate tax and €157,000 in VAT.
Vegara, who later rose to power under the PP–Vox coalition, insists he’s innocent and refuses to cut any plea deal. “I’m as calm as I was twenty years ago,” he said earlier this year. “I know exactly how this will end.”
His party, the conservative Partido Popular, has opened a disciplinary file against him — a formality required under party rules — but continues to downplay the case, calling it “a private matter unrelated to his role as mayor.”
The accusations first surfaced just days before Vegara announced his candidacy for mayor. Since then, the case has largely faded from public view — until now, as the court prepares to reopen one of Orihuela’s most politically charged trials in years.
