Piden 8 años de cárcel para la exalcaldesa de Móstoles Noelia Posse por fraccionar contratos

The popular accusation has requested eight years of imprisonment for the former mayor of Móstoles Noelia Posse (PSOE) for the alleged splitting of a series of contracts for works in public schools carried out in 2016, when she was the councilor for Environment, Parks-Gardens, and Street Cleaning.

The Court of Instruction number 5 of Móstoles already issued on March 27th an abbreviated procedure order after finding «sufficient evidence» of prevarication in the awarding of these contracts when Posse was a councilor in 2016, two years before becoming mayor.

According to sources from the popular accusation confirmed to EFE, in their document they have finally requested that a trial be opened against Posse and against the head of the Maintenance Service of Municipal Buildings and Public Schools, Ángeles Cortizas, who is also accused of contract splitting.

In the document, which EFE has accessed, the popular accusation requests eight years of imprisonment and 20 years of disqualification for both investigated parties for an alleged embezzlement of public funds, in addition to requesting a 10-year special disqualification for employment or public office for prevarication.

This is one of the separate pieces related to the investigation initiated in 2019 to clarify alleged crimes in the awarding, by the City Council of Móstoles, of a series of minor contracts carried out throughout 2016 for works in public schools in the locality.

In the abbreviated procedure order, the judge already found «sufficient evidence» of prevarication in both Posse and Cortizas, although she provisionally shelved the investigations into other socialist councilors such as Javier Gómez or Jéssica Antolín, as well as former Ganar Móstoles councilor Miguel Ángel Ortega.

«From the actions taken, it is evident that they consciously and deliberately split the object of the contract to avoid the quantitative limit and circumvent the ordinary contracting procedure,» the judge stated in the order dated March 27th, to which EFE had access.

Additionally, the order emphasized that it was Posse and Cortizas «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.

However, Posse already appealed this continuation order from the judge, arguing that «there is no evidentiary basis justifying the order issued for procedural accommodation,» as her involvement in the events «is limited to an initial phase.»

In this regard, the former mayor spoke of «a mere procedural act consisting of signing the expenditure proposal for a minor contract with the purpose and intention of continuing the procedure by transferring it to the Budgetary Control Office.»

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

All these actions regarding minor contracts began after a complaint from the former Finance Director of the City Council, Sergio Gil, to the Prosecutor’s Office, who ultimately filed a complaint for the crimes of falsification of official documents, prevarication, and embezzlement of public funds, and now requests 8 years of imprisonment for Posse for these offenses.

The popular accusation also filed an appeal a few weeks ago with the Provincial Court against the dismissal in favor of Jessica Antolín and Javier Gómez, both former councilors of the PSOE, as they believe that their involvement in the alleged contract splitting was active.