The president of the Alicante Chamber of Commerce has been arrested for mismanaging consumer vouchers issued by the Provincial Council.

ValenciaThe president of the Alicante Chamber of Commerce, Carlos Baño, was arrested Friday morning by the National Police, according to information obtained by ARA from sources close to the investigation. As detailed by the EFE news agency, the arrest was made for an alleged corruption offense related to the management of consumer vouchers in some twenty municipalities in the province during 2022 and 2023. The consumer voucher campaign was launched by the Alicante Provincial Council during the tenure of Carlos Mazón, who would later become president of the Valencian Government, to boost household spending and stimulate local businesses after the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. The investigation seeks to determine whether there was possible fraud in the management of these public funds. Despite his position at the Alicante Chamber of Commerce, Baño was arrested in his capacity as president of the Alicante Federation of Commerce (Facpyme). In parallel with the arrest, and in coordination with the Alicante Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, agents from the money laundering group of the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit have carried out several raids on the headquarters of the entities that managed the consumer vouchers, including the Facpyme (Alicante Federation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises). The campaign represented an expenditure of 58 million euros by the Alicante Provincial Council between 2022 and 2024. The initiative subsidized 50% of consumer purchases at participating establishments, while the customer paid the remaining amount. The investigation aims to determine whether the Alicante Federation of Commerce financially benefited from implementing the campaigns through a shell company. At this time, neither the National Police nor the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office have provided further details about the operation, as it has been declared secret.