According to sources close to the case, the National Police arrested Carlos Baño, president of the Alicante Chamber of Commerce, today, Friday March 13th, as part of an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office into consumer voucher campaigns that took place in several municipalities in the province in 2022 and 2023.
The police operation has moved to Alicante, where the Federation of Businesses and SMEs of the province, Facpyme, is in charge of running these programmes. Officers are currently searching the building for any documents that might be linked to the case.
The police are still working at the raided business on the first floor of the Valencian Community Business Confederation (CEV) building in Alicante, where the gates are full of reporters. There is a tense stillness outside Facpyme, at number 10 Orenes Street. Police personnel from the national level are in the area.
Carlos Baño, the current president of the Alicante Chamber of Commerce, was supposed to speak during the presentation of the Sectoral Tourism Report this Friday at 11:30 a.m. in the Chamber’s headquarters’ auditorium, which used to be the Hotel Palas. The Chamber’s first reports say that he couldn’t make it to the presentation because of schedule issues.
Eva Miñano led the presentation and said sorry that Baño couldn’t be there because of a “unforeseen circumstance.” She also said that it was “an initiative of Facpyme,” thus the school would not be commenting on it.
Everyone connected to the Chamber of Commerce has taken the news extremely hard. Outside the Facpyme offices, things are tight yet peaceful. Right now, officers are searching the first floor of number 10 Calle Orense. Outside, a police detail is regulating who can come in.
The initial motions happened at 2 p.m. Several officers left the building and walked to the entrance of the Plaza Galicia underground parking garage. After being underground for a few minutes, the same police came back with more people and proceeded back up to the first floor, where Facpyme’s main office is.
