Bono Comercio Scandal Connected to Mutxamel Visit

Carlos Baño’s arrest on March 13 has turned a long-running local subsidy program into a judicial and political problem for Alicante’s business establishment. Police detained the president of the Alicante Chamber of Commerce and the provincial retail federation Facpyme as part of an Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office investigation into the management of “bonos comercio” issued in 2022 and 2023 across about 20 municipalities in Alicante province. The case has also renewed attention on Carlos Mazón’s institutional ties to Baño and to Alicante Gastronómica Solidaria in Mutxamel. In April 2023, while serving as president of the Alicante provincial council, Mazón visited the group’s new facilities in Mutxamel alongside Baño, according to the provincial council and the Chamber-linked project’s own materials. (elpais.com) ### How did the voucher program work? The Diputación de Alicante launched the commerce vouchers after the pandemic to stimulate spending at local shops and help households with purchases. Residents paid 50% of the value of each purchase and the provincial council covered the rest, transferring funds to participating town halls, according to reporting by El País and RTVE. (diputacionalicante.es) The money involved was large. El País and RTVE reported that the program totaled 58 million euros between 2022 and 2024, with local councils relying on collaborating entities to manage payments to participating businesses, online voucher sales and promotion. ### Why did Carlos Baño end up under arrest? (elpais.com) Police and prosecutors are examining whether Baño benefited through Nexo Alicante Retail SL, a company identified in reporting as central to the management of the campaign. El País reported that investigators are looking at whether Baño profited through that company in connection with the voucher scheme run during Mazón’s tenure at the provincial council. (elpais.com) RTVE reported that Baño was released the same day but remains under investigation for alleged subsidy fraud and document falsification. After questioning, he declined to testify, and his lawyer Ignacio Gally said they would wait for the secrecy order to be lifted before studying the case. ### What is the Mutxamel connection? (elpais.com) Mutxamel appears in the story because Alicante Gastronómica Solidaria is a Chamber-backed initiative with facilities there, and Mazón publicly visited those installations with Baño on April 24, 2023. The provincial council’s statement said Mazón toured the kitchens and training areas in Mutxamel accompanied by Baño, AGS president Jesús Navarro, Mutxamel mayor Sebastián Cañadas and regional finance minister Arcadi España. (rtve.es) The Chamber of Commerce had signed an agreement with Mutxamel’s town hall on March 29, 2023 for the use of an industrial building for the new facilities, according to the Chamber’s website. Alicante Gastronómica Solidaria says it was created during the pandemic and has since delivered more than 1.7 million meals and operates weekly food assistance and hospitality training programs. (diputacionalicante.es) ### Does the case directly accuse Mazón? The current public reporting does not show Mazón charged in the vouchers case. The investigation described by RTVE and El País centers on the management of the program during the period when Mazón led the provincial council, but those reports identify Baño as the detained figure and the person under investigation. (camaralicante.com) The political sensitivity comes from timing and proximity. Baño succeeded Mazón at the Alicante Chamber of Commerce, according to El País, and the voucher campaign itself was promoted when Mazón was president of the Diputación. That leaves Mazón’s earlier institutional relationship to the program and to Baño as part of the factual backdrop, even though the court file publicly identified Baño as the only investigated person when the secrecy order was lifted in March. (elpais.com) ### Where does the investigation stand now? On March 26, the judge in Court of Instruction No. 4 in Alicante lifted the secrecy order over the case, according to the Valencian high court as cited by Europa Press and other outlets. Those reports said the case was initially opened over suspected fraud and/or subsidy fraud and that police had preliminarily estimated more than 100,000 euros in unjustified amounts. (elpais.com) As of those March 26 reports, Baño was the only person publicly identified as under investigation in the proceeding. The next developments are expected to come through filings and court actions in Alicante’s Instruction Court No. 4, where the vouchers case remains open. (eldebate.com) (europapress.es)