Allegations made by two civil servants brought Frigiliana alleged corruption case to light

Axarquía

The documentation submitted to the Guardia Civil and the anti-fraud office points to alleged splitting of payments and repeated payments to avoid going through the official procurement process and lifting of objections during council meetings at the Malaga province town hall

Eugenio Cabezas

The complaints lodged by two public officials – a local police officer and an accounting officer – form the documentary basis for the judicial investigation launched into ... alleged corruption at Frigiliana town hall in the Axarquía area of Malaga province.

The documents, submitted to the Guardia Civil Andalusian anti-fraud and corruption office (AAF), between May 2024 and April 2025, describe alleged irregularities in contracts, invoices and the lifting of objections, which are now under judicial investigation with Torrox Magistrates’ Court.

The case came to public attention on Tuesday 30 June with a search lasting more than thirteen hours at Frigiliana town hall and other properties linked to the investigation.

Following the lifting of the secrecy order, the investigating court in Torrox has summoned the mayor, Alejandro Herrero, five councillors and at least two town hall employees to give evidence as suspects in connection with alleged offences including administrative misconduct, misappropriation of public funds, fraud in public procurement, forgery, coercion, influence peddling and membership of a criminal organisation.

One of the complaints, to which SUR has had access, alleges that contracts were split up over several financial years, using smaller invoices linked to transport services and the supply of containers for municipal building works. According to the complaint, the system is said to have been used to circumvent public tender procedures and directly award contracts to a person from the mayor’s family circle, despite the objections raised by the audit department.

Officials have reported minor contracts, duplicate invoices and technical objections that were subsequently overturned during council meetings

The complaint includes a breakdown of payments between 2020 and 2023 totalling just under 286,628 euros. The document breaks this down as follows: 64,086.44 euros in 2020; 76,573.54 euros in 2021; 74,663.78 euros in 2022; and 71,304.05 euros in 2023. The complaint alleges that these amounts, accumulated on a quarterly basis, suggest repeated contracting which, in the complainant’s view, should have been carried out in accordance with the standard procedures laid down in the public sector contracts act.

The same document considers that this practice would have breached the principles of transparency, equality and competition in public procurement. The complaint alleges that the splitting of contracts constitutes a means of circumventing legal controls and that, should the allegations be confirmed, this could give rise to criminal and administrative liability. In any case, these are allegations that will need to be verified in court.

Public sector contracts act

A second complaint, submitted as an amendment, sets out further allegations relating to direct contracts, monthly invoices and alleged breaches of Article 118 of the public sector contracts act. The complaint alleges that the mayor awarded contracts without following the required procedures and suggests that objections raised by the municipal audit office were ignored.

This extension refers, among other matters, to contracts awarded from March 2019 to an individual who would subsequently join the town hall. According to the complaint, these contracts were arranged through twelve monthly invoices and failed to comply with the principles of public notice, transparency and free competition. The complainant maintains that this course of action could constitute alleged offences of administrative misconduct.

The document also highlights other payments and contracts which, according to the complainant, allegedly exceeded the limits for minor contracts or extended beyond the permitted timeframes. Specifically, it cites amounts of 79,057.31 euros in 2017, 43,475.30 euros in 2018 and 40,692.30 euros in 2019 in relation to invoices which, according to the complaint, should have been processed as work contracts or through channels other than the simple submission of invoices.

The extension also includes a further batch of ‘verbal awards’ between 2020 and 2023, without a public tender or procurement file, totalling 296,362.95 euros. According to the complaint, the amounts were €70,666.01 in 2020; €59,949.99 in 2021; €101,308.93 in 2022; and €64,438.02 in 2023. The complaint argues that these awards would exacerbate the irregularities already reported.

The Torrox court has summoned the mayor, five local councillors and at least two municipal officials as persons under investigation

Another of the documents focuses on the lifting of a suspensive objection raised by the Secretariat-Audit Department in a case discussed at a full council meeting in April 2025. The document states that the objection highlighted a breach of administrative and financial regulations and that, despite this, the mayor lifted it and the five socialist PSOE councillors present, together with Herrero, voted in the council meeting in favour of proceeding with the matter.

The official addressed the council meeting at the request of the opposition Partido Popular (PP) spokesperson, Pedro Alcántara and explained the difference between non-suspensive and suspensive objections to administrative proceedings. “There are two types of objection: one that is suspensive and one that is non-suspensive. Non-suspensive objections relate to what would be administrative irregularities, procedural flaws that can be rectified. They may be updated,” said the deputy secretary.

“In contrast, with suspensive objections, what is highlighted is a failure to meet the deadline, or a breach of the law so serious that it is impossible to proceed with the case while remaining in breach of the law. If the case were to proceed, it would result in a breach of the law. This is always in the opinion of the person raising the objection – I have not said this myself; it was the new secretary who did so,” the employee said.

During the debate, the mayor stated that they were lifting the objection in order to pay for an agreement with the irrigation community regarding the collaboration of the rural wardens. “We’ve done it the same way every year; if it was done incorrectly, the reports were wrong,” he pointed out. “It is lifted in a council meeting – that is what objections are for – as it is a measure that provides the legal basis for lifting the objection, so that the running of a local council can proceed smoothly, because otherwise we’d still be going round in circles,” Herrero said in his speech.

“We need to resolve this because, in the world of public administration, we have to ensure that things are efficient and swift and we cannot have a different approach every year. We have been doing what we have done up to now, which is to choose one budget item over another,” said the mayor in his response to the speech by the PP’s opposition spokesperson. The PP councillor criticised the “illegality” of the agreement, following the speech by the deputy municipal secretary. The PP voted against it.

Mobile phones seized

During the search last Tuesday, which lasted over 13 hours, the Guardia Civil focused much of its investigation on contracts, invoices and administrative files linked to various municipal departments. According to sources consulted by SUR, the documents seized relate to around twenty companies that have provided services or supplies to the town hall in recent years. Investigators also seized the mobile phones of the mayor and several councillors to ensure the smooth running of the investigation.

Herrero remained inside the town hall during the search and upon leaving, shortly after 10.30pm, he briefly explained to the media that they had been “all day making photocopies” and that “in principle, everything is fine”. However, following the lifting of the secrecy order, it has been confirmed that the mayor and five other councillors will be summoned to give evidence before the court in Torrox as persons under investigation in the coming days.

The PSOE in Malaga has called for ‘prudence’ and ‘respect’ for the judicial investigation, whilst offering its ‘full cooperation’

The PSOE in Malaga has called for “prudence” and “respect” for the judicial investigation, while offering its “full cooperation” to help clarify the facts. On the political front, the PP in Malaga has called for the immediate resignation of the mayor and the councillors under investigation, while Vox has also called for the public officials concerned to step aside while the investigation is ongoing.

The investigation deals a severe blow to the socialist leadership of Frigiliana, where Herrero became mayor following a motion of no confidence in February 2017 and where he has governed with an absolute majority since 2019. The court in Torrox is already examining the responsibilities surrounding a case that has shaken the political landscape of Frigiliana. The key issues now centre on the analysis of the seized documentation, the statements made by those under investigation, and verifying whether the objections, contracts and awards highlighted by the complainants are criminally actionable.