A COSTA del Sol mayoress has resigned amid charges of corruption and nepotism.
Antonia Muñoz (pictured), leader of Manilva (Málaga) town council is believed to have given jobs and lucrative public works contracts to family members, in particular to a company owned by her husband, and to have made multi-million-euro transfers to firms her relatives may have been involved with out of public funds.
At least 470 cases of possible nepotism have been uncovered, as well as several suspected incidences of public fund fraud.
On one occasion the mayoress apparently paid a family member for overtime - 24 hours' worth in one day.
Sra Muñoz's sister and daughter-in-law have been employed by the mayoress as her department heads for foreign affairs and coordination in the case of the former, and promotion, image and protocol in the case of the latter.
And her daughter, who has been called to testify, was employed by the construction and planning firm El Hacho, owned and run by the council - an appointment which was reported at the time to the anti-corruption prosecution service.
Sra Muñoz is also under investigation for allegedly dubious expenses claims.
She is said to have used her council credit card, which is purely for work-related out-of-pocket costs, to spend two euros on an ice-cream, several breakfasts priced at 8.90 euros, and on one occasion 84.95 euros in a specialist coffee store.
In light of the scandal surrounding her, Antonia Muñoz was forced out of her party, United Left (Izquierda Unida, or IU) last year, and several of her councillors left with her.
They are now part of the local government as non-affiliated councillors.
Although inside sources claim her out-of-the-blue resignation is because of the corruption charges, Sra Muñoz says she has done so in order to 'spend more time with her family'.
"I'm leaving with the feeling of satisfaction of having done my job and done it well," said Muñoz, who has been mayoress of Manilva since 1999 except for a break between 2003 and 2007 when another party was in power.
