Benidorm will review ex officio the extension of the contract for the l'Aigüera parking lot to clarify if there was harm

Benidorm City Council has initiated a file for the ex officio review of the plenary agreement of May 31, 2021, in which the continuity of the company 'Aparcamientos Concertados SA' in the management of the l'Aigüera public parking lot was agreed.

This was announced this Friday by the mayor of the city, Toni Pérez, in an appearance to report on the actions taken by the government team aimed at “clarifying as soon as possible” the report prepared by the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, and sent to the Court. of Accounts, in which he pointed out the existence of 'indications of alleged fraud of law' in the decision adopted.

The first mayor began his appearance by defending that "this government, like the two that preceded it, has always acted based on technical reports, always with maximum transparency and always in defence of the general interest." In this sense, he recalled that "all the technical reports that are part of the file were favourable to the decision adopted by the plenary session, as have also those prepared by the different departments in response to the provisional conclusions issued by the Anti-Fraud Agency”, the latter reports that were sent to such organization but that have not been reflected in its conclusions.

Pérez has indicated that, without intending to enter into controversies with this Agency, "in response to the Court of Auditors' diligence received last Wednesday, and that part of the resolution that was transferred to him by the Anti-Fraud Agency on November 29, yesterday he requested to the Contracting Department to initiate an ex officio review file of the plenary agreement of May 31, 2021”, a proposal that has already been included in point 6 of the agenda of the next ordinary plenary session, which will be held next Thursday, day 28.

Likewise, it is anticipated that said motion includes requiring the Municipal Engineering Department and the Municipal Treasury to quantify what compensation is estimated for the contractor during the period from June 1, 2021, to February 2023, when the management was municipalized. of this parking lot, "to resolve the alleged procedure of harm to the public interest", after which the file must be sent to the Consell Jurídic Consultiu "just as we have been doing with other matters, always fulfilling our responsibility."

The proposal that will be voted on in the plenary session includes the first two recommendations made by the Anti-Fraud Agency, for which this body gave the City Council six months and which it will respond to in just one month. For this reason, the City Council trusts that the Agency will close the file shortly.

The councillor has trusted that this ex officio review will allow “the necessary steps to be taken so that this issue is clarified as soon as possible and, if damage has occurred to the general interest of Benidorm, to initiate all pertinent actions to compensate for this alleged damage.” On this point, Pérez has been blunt and clear: "With this step, this government team intends to clarify this matter with a double objective: to defend the general interest and also to defend the name of Benidorm."

In the first case, he stated that "after eight years of government, we have shown that Benidorm and its neighbours are our priority" and has given as examples the municipalization of this parking lot, "which from the first moment has brought advantages for the population." with the reduction of rates and bonuses for registered residents”, or other decisions that have been adopted, such as the resolution of the crane contract and the blue zone, which will also go to the plenary session next Thursday due to the multiple non-compliances detected by the company. “When we have the slightest doubt or confirmation that the general interest is being harmed: we act,” he stressed.

Regarding the second objective, the one related to the defence of the name of Benidorm, Toni Pérez has directly referred to the socialist municipal group, whose councillors he has accused of being “immersed in a drift that is only understood for politicians and spurious” as well as being “dragging the name of the city to the mud in which it was found when they governed.” “We are making efforts – he continued – so that these gentlemen and ladies do not continue doing things to link the name of Benidorm to corruption because there is enough with their acts from past times and present times to damage the image of the city, facts proven evidence of PSOE politicians convicted for their management.”

“Mud for those who generate mud, because if their objective is to weaken the work and honorability of the government team, they are given,” the mayor insisted. Finally, he stated that "here do not look for even a hint of anything that is prevarication, anything that is influence peddling or embezzlement of public funds, because that is what has accompanied them when they have had the responsibility of managing ”.