Marbella Scandal - 18 Arrests
The Marbella scandal has resulted in over 18 arrests, over six imprisonments including the town Mayor, Vice Mayor and associates along with numerous extravagate artifacts confiscated for the upcoming trial which includes horses, a helicopter and five kilos of jewelry. The mayor of Marbella and 18 close associates were arrested and accused of bribary, corruption and misuse of public funds on March 29th last.
The scandal caught international headlines, severely damaged the PP party and put another black cloud over the already dubbed, Costa del Crime. Those arrested were accused of receiving valuable gifts of money, jewellery, luxury cars and art works in exchange for issuing building licenses and rezoning areas that had been previously designated for gardens, parks and public use.
The sensational charges and arrests still continue and last week the chief of the local police, Rafael del Pozo, was charged following a five-hour interview with a judge. The charges were not clear, but after dealing with the formalities in respect of the €20,000 euro bail for his client, Pozo’s lawyer claimed that there were no accusations of bibery nor misappropriation of public funds. The same day saw before the court, Torremolinos businessman Rafael Llopis was alleged to have paid money to obtain advertising contracts. He was detained without bail bringing the total number in custody to 12. The house of the man alleged to be at the centre of the Marbella corruption, Juan Antonio Roca, has been shown in a video released by the Ministry of the Interior shot inside one of his properties.
It has emerged that the now ex-Marbella’s head of Planning’s house had several animal heads hanging as hunting trophies and stuffed examples of exotic animals he has killed –including a giraffe. A Miró original painting hangs in one of the bathrooms. Juan Antonio Roca is the main person accused of money laundering in a huge operation that covered a lot of Andalucia as well as Madrid. Police also revealed that they had further evidence as a result of the wiretaps they had carried out during the investigation. Meanwhile Marbella’s Deputy Mayor, Isabel García Marcos has presented an appeal against her remand without bail.
She claimed the judge was acting beyond his jurisdiction in the case. Previously, Judge Torres who smashed a huge money laundering racket last year, has jailed six people that he found were involved in the scandal: former mayoress Marisol Yague; deputy mayoress Isabel Garcia Marcos; the head of the Urbanisation department and the alleged head of the corruption ring, Juan Antonio Roca; the Marbella councillor for Traffic and Transport Victoriano Rodriguez; businessmen Ismael Perez and Oscar Benavente and Montserrat Corulla. Police stated that a large part of the cash confiscated was found in a bag that the deputy mayoress of Marbella Isabel Garcia Marcos kept in her home.
As the first part of the operation ended, police found €830,000 in cash, confiscated 275 works of art, 103 horses valued at more than three million Euros, 14 cars, 24 historical weapons, five kilos of jewelry and a helicopter in addition to the five vanloads of documents. Bank accounts containing €2,400 million were also confiscated in the initial raids. In the intial raid, police in Murcia detained one person and collected evidence from various houses, one of which was set inside an estate of 100 hectares that has an orange grove, heliport and three industrial warehouses.
Furthermore, there was a small palace of a house where police discovered a gold mine of objects whose value is difficult to calculate according to media reports. These included old cameras, a large number of jewels, a golden chalice, a highly valued old sextant, and three old Mercedes cars in perfect working order as well as a perfectly working ancient bus. In another development, it has been revealed that the wife of Marbella police superintendent Rafael del Pozo worked for a company affiliated with the town hall and made €4,000 a month. On the political front Manuel Chaves, the regional president of Andalucía, was prepared to dissolve Marbella town council and appoint an administrator in light of the arrests and accusations. However, apparently, he was not prepared to call elections, as the latest polls showed that the Partido Popular would win hands down, and this is something that his party wants to avoid at any cost.
The PP, however, believes that even more unease amongst the people of Marbella would be if an administrator is appointed until the next elections in 2007, and this view is born out by Pio Garcia-Escudero, the PP spokesman in the Senate in Madrid, as it is the Senate that will have the task of legally dismissing the council. Mr. Garcia-Escudero expressed the belief that elections could take place in Marbella on May 27. The Marbella case has landed like a hot potato in the lap of the Andalucian president Manuel Chaves, who has been accused of knowing that a huge mafia-like network of corruption was operating in the region, yet did nothing about it.
The Oracle, Ayamonte
found for you by HOMES & FINCAS, Ayamonte, Costa de la Luz, Spain
The scandal caught international headlines, severely damaged the PP party and put another black cloud over the already dubbed, Costa del Crime. Those arrested were accused of receiving valuable gifts of money, jewellery, luxury cars and art works in exchange for issuing building licenses and rezoning areas that had been previously designated for gardens, parks and public use.
The sensational charges and arrests still continue and last week the chief of the local police, Rafael del Pozo, was charged following a five-hour interview with a judge. The charges were not clear, but after dealing with the formalities in respect of the €20,000 euro bail for his client, Pozo’s lawyer claimed that there were no accusations of bibery nor misappropriation of public funds. The same day saw before the court, Torremolinos businessman Rafael Llopis was alleged to have paid money to obtain advertising contracts. He was detained without bail bringing the total number in custody to 12. The house of the man alleged to be at the centre of the Marbella corruption, Juan Antonio Roca, has been shown in a video released by the Ministry of the Interior shot inside one of his properties.
It has emerged that the now ex-Marbella’s head of Planning’s house had several animal heads hanging as hunting trophies and stuffed examples of exotic animals he has killed –including a giraffe. A Miró original painting hangs in one of the bathrooms. Juan Antonio Roca is the main person accused of money laundering in a huge operation that covered a lot of Andalucia as well as Madrid. Police also revealed that they had further evidence as a result of the wiretaps they had carried out during the investigation. Meanwhile Marbella’s Deputy Mayor, Isabel García Marcos has presented an appeal against her remand without bail.
She claimed the judge was acting beyond his jurisdiction in the case. Previously, Judge Torres who smashed a huge money laundering racket last year, has jailed six people that he found were involved in the scandal: former mayoress Marisol Yague; deputy mayoress Isabel Garcia Marcos; the head of the Urbanisation department and the alleged head of the corruption ring, Juan Antonio Roca; the Marbella councillor for Traffic and Transport Victoriano Rodriguez; businessmen Ismael Perez and Oscar Benavente and Montserrat Corulla. Police stated that a large part of the cash confiscated was found in a bag that the deputy mayoress of Marbella Isabel Garcia Marcos kept in her home.
As the first part of the operation ended, police found €830,000 in cash, confiscated 275 works of art, 103 horses valued at more than three million Euros, 14 cars, 24 historical weapons, five kilos of jewelry and a helicopter in addition to the five vanloads of documents. Bank accounts containing €2,400 million were also confiscated in the initial raids. In the intial raid, police in Murcia detained one person and collected evidence from various houses, one of which was set inside an estate of 100 hectares that has an orange grove, heliport and three industrial warehouses.
Furthermore, there was a small palace of a house where police discovered a gold mine of objects whose value is difficult to calculate according to media reports. These included old cameras, a large number of jewels, a golden chalice, a highly valued old sextant, and three old Mercedes cars in perfect working order as well as a perfectly working ancient bus. In another development, it has been revealed that the wife of Marbella police superintendent Rafael del Pozo worked for a company affiliated with the town hall and made €4,000 a month. On the political front Manuel Chaves, the regional president of Andalucía, was prepared to dissolve Marbella town council and appoint an administrator in light of the arrests and accusations. However, apparently, he was not prepared to call elections, as the latest polls showed that the Partido Popular would win hands down, and this is something that his party wants to avoid at any cost.
The PP, however, believes that even more unease amongst the people of Marbella would be if an administrator is appointed until the next elections in 2007, and this view is born out by Pio Garcia-Escudero, the PP spokesman in the Senate in Madrid, as it is the Senate that will have the task of legally dismissing the council. Mr. Garcia-Escudero expressed the belief that elections could take place in Marbella on May 27. The Marbella case has landed like a hot potato in the lap of the Andalucian president Manuel Chaves, who has been accused of knowing that a huge mafia-like network of corruption was operating in the region, yet did nothing about it.
The Oracle, Ayamonte
found for you by HOMES & FINCAS, Ayamonte, Costa de la Luz, Spain
posted by HOMES & FINCAS at 9:56 AM
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