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Marbella corruption trial begins - 28 September 2010

Spain’s biggest ever corruption trial began yesterday with nearly 100 people accused of taking part in a scandal involving bribes and property development that led to the national government dissolving the town council of Marbella.

The case is centred on the alleged payment of millions of Euros in bribes by property developers to high-ranking officials in the Marbella town council in return for planning permission dating back to the mid-1990s. Two former mayors of Marbella are among the accused, along with the former chief of urban planning for the Costa del Sol resort town.

Ever since the case broke in March 2006, there have been a range of increasingly lurid tales which have emerged, involving some of the lavish purchases some of the accused are said to have made with the money they received. Other stories circulated in the media about high-ranking council officials having hidden ‘bricks’ of cash in their homes and offices.

The cast of the accused on trial reads like a who’s who of recent local politic in Marbella. The alleged ringleader of the cash-for-votes scheme is Juan Antonio Roca, ex-chief of urban planning in Marbella and former right-hand man of the late mayor Jesús Gil, who many blame for a culture of corruption in the town. Roca, or JR as he was known, is said to have taken some €30m in bribes from property developers over the years and owned three palaces in Madrid. Police found stuffed lions and giraffes at his home and a Miro painting in the bathroom, and it is alleged he took a one-third cut of all bribes he arranged.

Also in the dock are two former mayors of Marbella. Julián Muñoz allegedly made some €3.5m from bribes in his time as mayor, but eventually fell out with Roca, who had him ousted as mayor. He was replaced by Marisol Yagüe, allegedly a ‘puppet’ in Roca’s hands – the former folk singer is alleged by prosecutors to have taken €1.8m in bribes and now runs a flamenco club.

One other former councilor in the dock is Isabel García Marcos. The former socialist and outspoken critic of corruption in Marbella eventually became one of Roca’s preferred councilors. She was caught on one phone tap saying: ‘I don’t sign a piece of paper, or even read one, if I don’t get money’. Police found €378,000 in €500 notes at her home.

The defendants face huge fines and between 10 and 30 years in jail if found guilty, and the trial is set to last for a year. More seriously, some 18,000 properties were found to have been built in the area without planning permission. Most of these have now been granted retrospective permission, though around 500 properties are still under threat of demolition.

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