Valencia PP official accused of hostess bar extortion

A leading official in the Popular Party-run Valencia City Hall, Vicente Igual, has been accused of blackmailing a red-light club owner over the issuance of an operating license.

Igual, the city commissioner for leisure, allegedly demanded a payment of 100,000 euros from Pilar Monreal, the proprietor of the Hostal Universo Majestic, a hostess bar in downtown Valencia. The conservative official denies "categorically" that he asked for the money.

According to the club owner, Igual demanded the sum as a commission for granting the license and approached Monreal through an intermediary, Popular Party member José Luis Bayo. Monreal claims to have provided the courts with recorded evidence of the transaction, which she made available on the internet.

The City Hall official denies "having ordered, consented to, induced or committed" a crime of extortion, blackmail or any other offense. Accordingly, Igual has launched a counter-claim of defamation against his accuser.

Igual did concede, however, that he had signed an order of closure on the establishment in 2006- which was ratified by the courts- and denied a license petition for the club in 2007 when serving as deputy mayor of Valencia.

The video Monreal posted on the internet allegedly shows a private meeting at which the payment was mooted a as a way to solve the licensing problems of her venue.

In a tape recording which accompanies the video, the plaintiff is heard talking to a man assumed to be Bayo, a former leader of the PP's national youth wing, who resigned the post in 2008 for "personal and professional reasons."

According to Igual, Bayo acted alone and presented himself as an intermediary. The Popular Party yesterday suspended Bayo's party membership due to the "seriousness" of the allegations.