La exalcaldesa de Móstoles, Noelia Posse, sigue siendo investigada por presunta prevaricación.

The Provincial Court of Madrid has dismissed the appeal filed by the former mayor of Móstoles Noelia Posse (PSOE) against the abbreviated procedure issued on March 27th in the case investigating her for the alleged splitting of a series of contracts carried out in 2016.

Thus, the Court has confirmed her status as a suspect in an alleged crime of administrative prevarication in the abbreviated procedure investigating alleged irregularities in the awarding of minor contracts for renovations in public schools, when she was in charge of the Environment and Street Cleaning department.

The judicial resolution, reported by Cadena Ser and accessed by EFE, upholds the ruling issued in March by the Instruction Court number 5 of Móstoles, within one of the separate pieces of the larger case investigating alleged crimes in the awarding of a series of minor contracts.

The Court rejected Posse’s arguments, considering that «there are indicia of the elements of the crime of prevarication» due to her active participation in the process, and that her signature on the documents was «essential» to proceed with this contracting model.

Furthermore, it emphasizes that as a public official, she had the obligation to «seek advice or abstain» if she was unaware of the legality of the procedure, hence confirming her status as a suspect in an alleged case of administrative prevarication in the abbreviated procedure.

Posse initially appealed the continuation order of Instruction Court number 5, arguing that «there is no indicia to justify the issued order for procedural accommodation», as her involvement in the events «summarizes an initial phase».

In this regard, the former mayor referred to it as «a mere formality consisting of signing the expenditure proposal for a minor contract with the aim of continuing the process by transferring it to the Budget Control Office.

However, the judge stated in the order that, from the actions taken so far, «it is evident that a conscious and deliberate splitting of the contract’s object was carried out by them to evade the quantitative limit in order to avoid the ordinary contracting procedure».

The accusation was also maintained against the former head of the Building Maintenance Service of Municipal Buildings and Public Schools in the city, Ángeles Cortizas Bouza, for whom there are also «sufficient indicia» of the commission of this crime of prevarication attributed to the former mayor.

The order emphasized that Posse and Cortizas were «the ones who decided on the type of contract to be carried out and, consequently, consciously and deliberately, disregarded the legal forms of public contracting, infringing the aforementioned principles» in the contract proposals for eight works.

Therefore, an abbreviated procedure order was issued, subject to appeal, concluding the investigation and giving ten days to the accusers and the prosecutor to request the opening of an oral trial or the dismissal of the case.

Now, with the appeal rejected by the Provincial Court, the mayor is once again on the brink of trial, awaiting the accusers and the prosecutor to request the opening of an oral trial.

TWO INVESTIGATIONS

Former mayor Noelia Posse is also under investigation in another separate piece opened by the same Court for other alleged irregularities in the awarding of minor contracts in the Communication department of the Móstoles City Council, both during her term and that of her predecessor, David Lucas.

All these actions regarding minor contracts were initiated following a complaint filed by the former Director of Finance of the City Council, Sergio Gil, before the Prosecutor’s Office, who eventually filed a complaint for the crimes of falsification of an official document, prevarication, and embezzlement of public funds.