Spanish authorities have arrested two people, including the former socialist mayor of Trabanca (a small municipality in the Salamanca province of western Spain), on suspicion of defrauding €3.3 million in European Union funds intended to promote employment and rural settlement. The European Public Prosecutor's Office, which led the investigation, alleges that José Luis Pascual used his role as president of three non-profit associations to repeatedly claim overlapping grants from the European Social Fund and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development between 2010 and 2025, in some cases hiring his own relatives as staff who in reality worked for his private winery. During the operation, Spain's Civil Guard searched properties in the provinces of Zamora and Salamanca, froze more than a dozen bank accounts holding over €550,000, and imposed precautionary measures on more than 40 urban and rural properties; the investigation also covers suspected money laundering.