The Court of Instruction No. 14 of Seville has set for this Friday the appearances of five investigatedof the councilors socialists of the City Hall of San Juan de Aznalfarache (Seville) and three former councilors, also from PSOEas presumed perpetrators of crimes of prevarication and embezzlement of public funds of the Consistory in the agreement signed with the Assembly of Cooperation for Peace in Andalusia for said entity to be in charge of the management of the Ossetan social currency. The mayor, the socialist Fernando Zamoraalready declared for these facts.
The aforementioned judicial instance is investigating the complaints filed by the PP and Vox in relation to the management of this currency, a supposed tool of social support for disadvantaged people in the town. According to Vox, “there are many expenses that do not correspond to the purpose of the Ossetana currency, corresponding to expenses in bars and festivals“, as well as shopping «that do not correspond to staple foods, such as bottles of alcoholic beverages», and even «it seems that some beneficiaries of this currency are not residents of the municipality of San Juan».
In an order issued on March 9, the court summons for this Friday the current mayor of Urban Planning, Infrastructures, Human Resources, Finance and Statistics, Fernando Pozo; along with the former councilors Francis Amadeus Martinez y Alicia del Carmen Ruiz Madolell; the current councilor for the Interior Regime, Economy and Local Development and Tourism, Maria Jose Quesada; and the former mayor Maria Rocio Leonall of them from the PSOE.
For the 22nd he has summoned the also former capitulant Francisco Javier Ortega and the current municipal manager for Social Welfare, LGTBI and Diversity, Policies for the Elderly and Integration, Health and ConsumptionImmaculate Serrano Bartolessi; as well as the current Councilor for Education, Childhood and Volunteering, Manuel Ramos; to the municipal delegate for Institutional Relations, Presidency, Training and Equality, Nativity Martin Garcia; and to the mayor Claudio Manuel Lopezresponsible for Sports, Energy Transition and Environment.
On March 27, he finally cites Jose Alonso Garrido Perez, current mayor of Coexistence and Citizen Security, Civil Protection and Mobility; to Maria Francisca Aparicio Cervantes, Councilor for Culture, Major Festivals, Citizen Participation and Protocol; and a representative of the Assembly of Cooperation for Peace in Andalusia.
With these citations, all the socialist mayors of San Juan appear as being investigated in the case, including the mayor, Fernando Zamora (PSOE), which already appeared in 2021.
The Civil Guard report
For this, “the corresponding report from the Civil Guard has been delivered to them”, a report that according to the complainant parties confirms that it is a case of “corruption” and according to the socialists, he rules out the embezzlement of public funds.
The aforementioned initial complaints by the PP and Vox derive from a report issued by the authorized nationals of the San Juan City Hall on the agreement signed by said administration with the Assembly of Cooperation for Peace in Andalusiawith the purpose of such an entity, it was in charge of the management of the Ossetana social currency, a tool of social support for the disadvantaged people of the locality.
The version of the PSOE
Faced with said unfavorable report and judicial complaints, the local government of the PSOE explained in 2021 that this social currency had counted since its creation in 2014 with some 213,000 euros contributed by the Consistory itself, the Junta de Andalucía or La Caixa, to help residents of the municipality in a situation of vulnerability to acquire basic products.
According to the Government Team, the mentioned report of the national qualified does not allude to any diversion of fundsdefending that “not a single euro of those budgeted for the Ossetana currency program has been used for uses unrelated to the general interest and benefits have always been granted according to previous reports from social services.”
But after the mayor, the socialist Fernando Zamora, made a statement in March 2021 before the Investigating Court No. 14, stating that he was unaware that the Ossetana social currency management model caused incidents and that said program was suspended once it was known the report of the qualified nationals, the court has summoned as investigated the eight remaining socialist councilors members of the local government.
