The controversy surrounding the management and acquisition of publicly protected housing (VPP) built by the Residencial Les Naus cooperative on municipal land sold by Alicante council between 2018 and 2022 continues to play out in the courts. Specifically, the latest dispute involves the documentation submitted by the local authority in response to a formal request from the judge investigating alleged irregularities. It has emerged that the council has only provided a portion of the emails sent by technicians from the municipal heritage area in mid-January.
These specific communications warned of a potential conflict of interest or incompatibility. The alarms were raised when the identities of some of the buyers purchasing apartments built during the final phase of the land sale verification process were confirmed. Among the buyers were Rocío Gómez, the former urban planning councillor; the children of María Pérez-Hickman, the former director general of internal organisation and head of procurement; and the municipal architect, Francisco Nieto.
The magistrate issued an official order on 23rd May requesting the municipal legal services to provide copies of all emails sent by the heritage department to the general vice-secretariat between 15th and 31st January. However, the files forwarded to the court only include communications sent between 26th and 31st January, failing to cover the entire requested period of the second half of that month.
This discrepancy has now been highlighted by the legal representatives of the PSOE municipal group, who are acting as the popular prosecution in the case. Led by lawyer Fernando Cazorla, the group has filed a formal request with the court asking the judge to order the council once again to hand over the complete set of requested documents. It remains to be seen whether the judge will approve this request, though it appears highly likely given that she has already pressed the municipal legal services on two previous occasions to submit these emails alongside other additional documentation. On the final occasion, she went as far as ordering the police to go to the municipal offices to demand their delivery.
Thus far, the ruling team from the Partido Popular (PP) maintains that it is fully cooperating with the judiciary to ensure that any potential anomalies are cleared up and responsibilities are assigned. Furthermore, they stated they want to ensure the recovery of any properties acquired by individuals who did not meet the maximum income requirements necessary to access public housing. The PP has also blamed the delay on notification issues within the judicial system, claiming that requests had been sent to a legal advice email address that is no longer operational.
