Marbella skandaler igen igen
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Marbella: How Spain's jewel lost its shine
Once the playground of the rich and famous, Marbella appears to be plunging into the mire of corruption. We report on the background to the current civic graft scandal.
Marbella was always one of Spain's Mediterranean jewels.
Known for being the Costa del Sol enclave preferred by aristocrats, Arab princes, actors and singers, it numbers among its residents Antonio Banderas, Bruce Willis and Julio Iglesias.
The city, which has a population of 124,000, enjoys a beautiful spring micro-climate all year round and, like Los Angeles, Marbella also has a Hollywood Boulevard of sorts - known as the Boulevard of Fame - where well-known personalities can leave their handprints and signatures in concrete.
But despite the glitz and glamour, the resort city has seen its reputation nosedive with a flood of recent corruption cases.
In recent years it has acquired a reputation as a beach haven for gangsters of various nationalities.
It has taken another blow with the arrest of its mayor and other officials in a multi-million euro corruption scandal.Part of the reason is that Marbella became a prime site for property speculation over the past 15 years.
Uncontrolled housing construction has resulted in more than 20,000 homes being built illegally which are now awaiting a court order to be demolished.
The latest case unfolded with a huge police raid on city hall and other municipal agencies, designed to break up a massive and elaborate local government network engaged in embezzling EUR 2.4 billion in public funds.
Those arrested were accused of bribery, influence-peddling and price-fixing.
More than 1,000 bank accounts have been frozen and 21 people have been arrested, including Mayor Marisol Yague and city planner, Juan Antonio Roca, who is known to be one of the Costa del Sol's richest men.
Miro paintings, a helicopter, a fleet of luxury cars, bundles of cash totalling EUR 300,000 and thoroughbred horses have all been seized by police who say they were perks which corrupt public servants received in the scam.
It is no accident that the judge who ordered the police raids is also the magistrate leading Operation White Whale.
This operation, launched last year, targeted a EUR 250 million money laundering scam to hide the profits of drug trafficking profits.
Fifty people were arrested, among them Chilean attorney Fernando del Valle.
Operating through the Marbella lawyers office headed by Del Valle were a tangled web of corporations with links in several countries that focus on investing along the Costa del Sol.
For some time, Spanish authorities have been investigating the connections formed amid the rampant urban development and links to organized crime groups in the area.
The authorities and experts have noted that the Costa del Sol around Marbella is a favourite spot for members of Sicilian crime families - as well as Russian and other Slavic organized crime groups - to set up operations.
Bienvenidos a Marbella: The resort's famous Golden Mile
Of the latest arrests are not the first time that shenanigans in local property speculation have landed municipal officials behind bars.
Two previous mayors - Julian Muñoz and Jesus Gil y Gil, the latter of whom died in 2004 - have also spent time in jail.
It was property tycoon Gil who, as mayor from 1991-2002, managed to turn Marbella into one of the most popular locations in Spain, in particular because he worked hard to clean up the city and improve security there.
The city got a facelift during those years, but uncontrolled urban development led to many complaints against this larger than life figure.
Gil, former owner of Atletico Madrid football club, was pardoned by dictator Francisco Franco in 1971 after 58 people died when a restaurant built by him collapsed.
He was later barred from holding public office for 11 years after his conviction for diverting EUR 24 million from municipal coffers.
Muñoz, who succeeded Gil as mayor, made regular appearances in Spain's prensa rosa or tabloids, due to his relationship with Spanish singer Isabel Pantoja.
He was found guilty of corruption and had to leave office in n August 2003, after a vote of no-confidence from the city council shortly after he expressed his intention to fire then-city planner Juan Antonio Roca, who is currently under arrest and accused of being a key figure in the current corruption conspiracy.
Yague, who claims she is innocent of all allegations of corruption levelled by the current inquiry, then succeeded Muñoz.
The history of politics in Marbella is also one of political turncoats.
Miro paintings, a helicopter, a fleet of luxury cars, bundles of cash totalling EUR 300,000 and thoroughbred horses have all been seized by police who say they were perks for corrupt public servants
Yague - currently a member of the political party created by Gil - started her political career in the Socialist Party, just like Isabel Garcia Marcos, the mayor's key lieutenant who was arrested after returning from her honeymoon in Russia.
With the upper echelon of the city hall in jail, and in the face of the public's demands for local elections, the man now in charge of Marbella council is Tomas Reñones, a former Atletico player who was also brought to the resort city by Gil.
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