A Spanish civil servant managed to take a six year break from work on full pay without anyone noticing.
His absence was finally spotted when he became eligible for an award for 20 years of service.
Joaquín García, an engineer, was employed by the municipal water company in Cádiz to oversee the construction of a waste water treatment plant.
When the records were finally consulted, it appears that he stopped turning up for work in 2004. His family say that he did go to work, but just not for all those full-time hours.
"We thought that he had been supervised by the water company but that was not the case," local deputy mayor Jorge Blas Fernández, who originally given him the job, told El Mundo newspaper.
"I wondered whether he was still working there, had he retired, had he died. But the payroll showed he was still receiving a salary," he added.
At the same time, the water company thought he was supervised by the local authorities.
Garcia, now 69 and retired, denies the allegations and his lawyer says he has gone into hiding after suffering a media "lynching".
He claims to have been bullied at work which he did not report for fear of being let go and unable to support his family.
The case has just now come to light after a court fined him €27,000 for his prolonged absence, the equivalent of one year’s salary after tax. It was the maximum the company could legally reclaim.
Spanish newspapers have dubbed him "el funcionario fantasma" - the phantom official.
He used his time to read philosophy.
