By Richard Torné
The mayor of Roquetas de Mar, Gabriel Amat, is under pressure to resign over claims he awarded contracts amounting to some €950,000 to firms featuring his son-in-law.
According to the El País newspaper, in May 2009 Sr Amat awarded a 887,000-euro contract to build a hedgerow to two firms, one of which (Jarquil Verde) employed Amat’s son-in-law, José Zapata Pomares, as a consultant.
It also emerged that Sr Zapata allegedly benefited from other contracts between 2008 for €29,700 and another one in July 2014 for €35,555.
The first contract, which was to carry out an inventory of the city’s palm trees, was apparently awarded without due process and despite the fact it was €19,700 more expensive than the failed bid. Jarquil Verde, which employs only five staff, won the deal just two months after Sr Zapata joined the company, El País said.
