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Civil servant didn't turn up for work for six years... but nobody noticed until they went to present him a long-service award

• Joaquin Garcia didn't turn up for six years to his civil servant job
• He was discovered when his colleagues gave him a long service award
• Mr Garcia was subsequently fined a hefty €27,000 (£21,000)
• He was meant to be supervising the construction of a water treatment plant and since taken retirement

By Tom Wyke for MailOnline71

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A Spanish civil servant who didn't turn up for 'at least' six years was only caught after his work colleagues went to present him a special long-service award.

Joaquin Garcia had been employed by a water company run by the local authorities in Cadiz to supervise the construction of a water treatment plant.

The 69-year-old, who was €37,000 (£28,000) a year before tax, was subsequently fined a hefty €27,000 (£21,000) and has since retired from his position.

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Joaquin Garcia had been employed by a water company run by the local authorities in Cadiz (pictured) to supervise the construction of a water treatment plant

Mr Garcia has denied that he did not go to work for six years and claimed he was the victim of bullying by his work colleagues.

He said the bullying was due to his family's political views and that he was deliberately appointed to the water company to be out of the way.

He didn’t report to work for six years, and no one noticed until he won an award Resize Text Print Article Comments 113 Book mark article Read later list Saved to Reading List By Niraj Chokshi February 13 It sounds like a “Seinfeld” episode. In 2004, the city council in Cadiz, Spain, put Joaquín García in charge of overseeing construction of a wastewater treatment plant, according to the Daily Telegraph. He visited the office, but finding no work and feeling bullied, he stopped showing up. And no one noticed. For six years. García continued to collect his roughly $41,500 salary until 2010, when an official spotted his name on a list of employees due to receive an award — his for 20 years of service. The official, José Blas Fernández, visited the plant only to discover that no one knew where García was. “They assumed he had been sent back to city hall,” Fernández told the Telegraph. García, it turns out, was reading philosophy: He was especially partial to the works of Baruch Spinoza, according to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo. García, who has become known as “the phantom official,” denies any wrongdoing. He was bullied because of his family’s politics and assigned to the water treatment plant to be put out of the way, he said, according to the BBC. Once there, he found no work. People close to him told El Mundo that García, now 69, was afraid to report the bullying for fear that he would be fired and have trouble finding another job at his age. He was stressed enough to see a psychiatrist, they said. He did go to work sometimes, for brief stints, they added. The manager of the plant at the time, however, said he hadn’t seen García in years. García is now in hiding, following what his lawyer described as a media “lynching,” according to the BBC. In the end, he was fined roughly $30,300 or roughly a year’s salary after taxes, the maximum under the law. He is contesting it.