Alicante deputy mayor denies knowing in 2022 that officials' children got public housing in Les Naus

Denial in the extraordinary plenary

Manuel Villar (PP) told an extraordinary plenary session on Thursday 8 October that he had no knowledge of Pérez-Hickman informing him in February 2022, when he was councillor for the area, that her children were enrolled in the Les Naus public housing cooperative. The session was requested by PSPV, Compromís and EU-Podem so that Villar could explain the latest information on the scandal, which emerged after Pérez-Hickman stated in court as an investigated person that she had told him. Villar answered the 12 written questions the opposition had submitted, and said he had learned of the matter when it was published in the press at the end of January 2026.

I have no record and I have had no knowledge that this information was provided to me.

Villar said that neither he nor the then head of the municipal legal services, with whom he said he had spoken, recalled such a conversation. He added that it was "impossible" to inform anyone of something he did not know. Pérez-Hickman remains head of Contracting because, in Villar's words, it is the post she holds as a civil servant and to which she had the right to return.

Opposition and mayor

The opposition maintains that everyone knew. Trini Amorós of the PSPV said that either Pérez-Hickman is lying or she should resign. Mayor Luis Barcala, who also says he had no knowledge, faces demands for accountability from the opposition. Villar acknowledged that procedures may need review: "It is evident that if we have reached this situation it is because some procedures need to be reviewed." Pérez-Hickman resigned as general director of Internal Organisation, Public Procurement and Fund Management after it emerged that three of her relatives were beneficiaries of properties in Les Naus.

Either they prove that Hickman is lying, or she has no decent way out but to resign.

At the plenary, the left-wing groups asked for a minute of silence in memory of Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman whose eviction sparked a social movement and led to early elections. Barcala refused and the gesture did not take place. The opposition accused the PP of lacking sensitivity, while the PP and Vox pointed to cases where they had not made similar requests.

Court and postponed commission

A judge at the Alicante first-instance court has summoned the president, vice-president and secretary of the cooperative's governing board as investigated persons, to testify on 21 October. With these three, the number of people with that status rises to 18, according to the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community. The proceedings began in February.

The judge has also requested from the city council all documents on whether it took any action in the sale of the municipal plot between the governing board agreement of 10 July 2018 and the publication of the tender notice on 5 September of that year. The request, made at the prosecutor's office's suggestion, also covers communications between the Asset Management and Contracting departments.

Vox has asked the Les Naus parliamentary commission in Les Corts to postpone its sessions scheduled for 20 and 22 October, citing the need to avoid interference in the 29N electoral process. Compromís accused Vox of protecting the PP and covering for Barcala. The commission had 12 witnesses scheduled, including four people under investigation.