The former deputy mayor of Alicante, Miguel Ángel Pavón, and former councilman Natxo Bellido, who were part of the PSPV-Compromís-Guanyar Alacant tripartite government, have denied any involvement in the alleged irregularities in the awarding of public protection housing (VPP) in the Les Naus residential complex, in San Juan Beach. Both have pointed to the current mayor, Luis Barcala (PP), as the "maximum political responsible" for the controversy, which arose after it became known that several apartments went to municipal officials or people linked to them.
The two former council members have argued that this "scandal" was triggered when the local PP government decided to reactivate the file, and have criticized Barcala for not having given sufficient explanations or being the first to attend the investigation commission. At the same time, they have pointed to the "lack of control" by the Generalitat in verifying that the beneficiaries of public housing met the required conditions.
Pavón (Guanyar), former deputy mayor and former head of Urban Planning, and Bellido (Compromís), former councilman for Presidency and Project Coordination, inaugurated this Thursday the appearances before the VPP investigation commission in Les Corts, created as a result of the controversy over Les Naus, currently under judicial investigation.
Also scheduled for the session were the interventions of former Finance councilwoman Sofía Morales (PSPV) and former Finance councilman Toni Gallego (PP), along with the head of the technical works department of the City Council and advisor for the alienation contract, Antonio Faura. The former mayor of Alicante, Gabriel Echávarri (PSPV), summoned for this Thursday, will finally testify on July 23.
During his appearance, Pavón reiterated that "political responsibility" falls on both Barcala's government team and the Generalitat, insisting that neither the reactivation of the file nor the subsequent awards occurred under the tripartite government's mandate.
When asked by the PP about the sale of the plot during the tripartite period, he explained that the Department of Finance was looking for resources to face compensation "and thought of that plot." He detailed that he received a request from the then Finance councilwoman, Sofía Morales, for an Urban Planning technician to prepare an appraisal, without "any kind of political directive," and that he subsequently sent that report to Finance and Heritage.
Pavón has indicated that he does not know the reason why the file was stopped, although he has specified that it was "by a verbal communication from the mayor" Echávarri in 2017, and that he "supposes" it was due to a report from the Intervention. In any case, he has stressed that "the fundamental thing about this case and what is really serious is from the alienation of the plot", at which point it is awarded and "very suspicious things" happen with Barcala already as mayor.
He wanted to make it clear that his party did not support the sale of public land and that "of course they would never" have promoted the start of that file. He has attributed its processing to the "concessions" typical of coalition governments.
"They cannot be called social housing"
"Seeing into whose hands the apartments have ended up, that a significant portion of the people who live there are of high purchasing power, they cannot be called social housing. We do not know very well what has gone wrong, because they should not live there and there has been no control in supervising the requirements," he has pointed out, highlighting that among the awardees is "a lot of people from the PP's circle."
The former deputy mayor has held the Generalitat responsible for this lack of control, considering that it has "a very direct responsibility to ensure the VPP award process." "And this has exploded on Luis Barcala, who I hope will go through this commission because he is one of the fundamental people to shed light on: it was he who approved that alienation process in July 2018 and he and his government team will have some responsibility," he has asserted.
After remarking that a left-wing executive in Alicante "would certainly not have gone ahead with this file," Pavón has assured that neither he nor anyone around him owns a home in Les Naus, which is why he does not understand what he is doing "here" in this commission. "I don't see it as logical: it's diverting attention from the real culprits of the scandal, which is the PP government team alongside the Generalitat," he has insisted.
(((To be continued)))