A REGION-WIDE corruption scandal involving inflated estimates for public works with the difference shared out in backhanders has affected schools built in Gandia, according to the town’s education councillor Laura Morant.
The government-owned education infrastructure company at the centre of the racket, Ciegsa, built seven schools in the La Safor (Valencia province) district capital, for which the taxpayer shelled out an estimated 26% extra.
Laura Morant says the schools, which went up between 2001 and 2011, all showed in their plans a ‘budged amendment’ which, in some cases, involved doubling the estimated costs.
She calculates Ciegsa was paid €5.4 million over and above the amounts necessary out of residents’ pockets.
