Julián Muñoz and Del Nido get seven and a half years in prison

José María del Nido

MARBELLA (Agencies) The former mayor of Marbella, Julián Muñoz, was sentenced yesterday to seven and a half years in jail for his part in the Minutas case, an spin-off of the Malaya case, Spain's largest. The judge also sentenced the President of Sevilla Football Club, José María del Nido, to the same time in jail - plus payment of €3,058,505 and €2.7 million respectively, and are barred from public office for 15 years. The alleged head of the Malaya case, also involved in this one, Juan Antonio Roca, got 4 years in jail. The case arises from a systematic 'decapitalization' of the Marbella treasury, called Minutas because this is another word for bills, as presented by lawyers (Del Nido is one), but which in this case were presented between 1999 and 2003, but no legal work done for them. The case can be appealed to the Supreme Court but there is no news that they will be.

Ronda exMayor and three Councillors charged in corruption cases

Antonio María Marín Lara (l.), arrested
(Photo: El País / Julián Rojas)

RONDA (Agencies) It took the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's officials and a host of National Policemen nine hours to search the Town Hall and Town Planning offices of Ronda Council in an operation that ended with the arrest of seven people and confiscation of what one paper calls 'abundant documentation'. Chief among the detainees is Antonio María Marín Lara, former Mayor of Ronda and present PSOE Councillor. Another three are are implicated in an alleged network of corruption that operated among the previous corporation of the Málaga town. Among the charges against them are those of perversion of the course of justice, bribery, peddling of political influence, embezzlement, forging documents and money laundering. The PSOE was in power from September 2004 until the last local elections of May 22. Among those detained are also a local lawyer and two directors of the Eroski supermarket chain. The operation, dubbed Acinipo after an archaeological site in the area,>>>

Marbella corruption case gets under way again

Juan Antonio Roca

MARBELLA (Agencies) In the renewal of the Malaya corruption case in Marbella, its principal character, Juan Antonio Roca, said yesterday that he bought prize-winning lottery tickets to 'avoid paying taxes on the petty cash money' and has denied that his wife, María Rosa Jimeno, and daughter, María Roca -both of them under charges of money laundering in the case- had any knowledge of the operations he carried out. Roca said that some of the money was his and another part of it his wife's, but he had access to it. "I had the money and I invested it like that," said the alleged head of the corruption network on Marbella Council. The trial started a new 'block' on Monday, this one regarding money laundering and related to artworks and prize-winning lottery tickets. Papers filed in the case say that Roca bought lottery tickets that had won prizes but paid well over the prize money involved. Roca, or one of his many 'shell' companies or relatives, owns property in Jimena. One of the estates has two -yes, two- helipads, a bullring and other features that have been deteriorating severely since the case was uncovered in November 2005.

Remember: top speed is 110

SPAIN (Agencies/Photo: EuropaSur) As we (and the Government) announced last week, the top speed in Spain will be 110 kilometres per hour as from midnight tonight, i.e. from Monday, March 7. The measure, it was announced on Friday, is temporary and is planned to last four months, depending on the energy situation. The objective is to save energy as Spain imports over 75% of its oil - that, plus chaos in Northern Africa. All signs on major roads should have been changed by now, and although there is no news about the radars, is it worth risking a hefty fine? An interesting study about the cost of the signs is in this morning's EuropaSur, which we have translated and summarised below:>

Help clean up corruption in Spain

(Versión en español abajo) Received via e-mail: Dear friends across Spain, Right now, political parties are drawing up their candidate lists for local and regional elections in May, but the lists could include hundreds of corrupt politicians. Instead of presenting people with a track record of responsible public service, some party leaders are using legal loopholes to nominate candidates indicted for corruption-related charges. There are deep vested interests keeping dirty politicians in power, but if party leaders know our votes in May depend on cleaning up their lists -- we could force them to take action against corruption, and its disastrous impact on public life, our economy and the environment.>

Attorney General counts 730 corruption cases against political parties

(Agencies) Spain's Attorney General, Cándido Conde Pumpido, announced yesterday that there are a total of 730 cases open against political parties throughout the country. The figure includes cases under procedure or investigation. Of these, 264 are against members of the (ruling) PSOE, and 200 against members of the opposition Partido Popular. He added that there are 43 cases open against Coalición Canaria (canary Islands), 30 against Convergencia i Unió (Cataluña), 20 against Izquierda Unida (national), 17 against Grupo Independiente Liberal (Jesús Gil's old party, mainly in Málaga), 7 against Unión Mallorquina (Mayorca), 5 against Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Cataluña), 3 against Bloque Nacionalista Galego (Galicia), another 3 against Partido Nacionalista Vasco and one each against ANV and Eusko Alkatasuna (all of the Basque Country). Andthere are another 67 cases against members of local parties. Conde Pumpido said that he doesn't think "corruption is generalized" throughout the country, but that his office is "acting more efficiently than ever."