The name of Ricardo Pérez Zambrana, has been removed from the list of those who will receive the Police Merit Cross for services provided to residents after the PSOE warned that regional regulations prevent making such awards to people with pending court cases.
Zambrana was nominated for the award by the Orihuela Local Police and the Councillor for Citizen Security but following the PSOE denuncia indicating that he is a partner of the mayor Pepe Vegara in the company that had the concession of the Generalitat for the Technical Inspection of Vehicles (ITV), his nomination has been withdrawn.
The controversy arose prior to last Thursday’s plenary session, when the socialist group opposed his nomination given the current judicial situation of Zambrana, who is charged, like Vegara, for an alleged corporate tax and VAT fraud.
The socialist councillor Aynara Navarro explained that the regional regulations prevent granting, or even proposing, defendants until there is a final sentence. For this reason, the PSOE has asked that the recognition be withdrawn. Otherwise, the agreement that includes the distinctions that are made every year to police officers and outstanding citizens on the occasion of the festivity of the patron saint, the Virgin of Monserrate, would be null and void.
However, the PP still wanted to go to vote until the secretary of the City Council warned that this aspect had to be taken into account, for which reason the name of Pérez Zambrana was finally withdrawn from the list that will be put before the next plenary session.
