Spain's biggest corruption case got started this morning

MARBELLA (Agencies / Photo: RTVE) After almost five years of judicial investigation and 95 people on the bench, the Malaya Case opened this morning and is expected to take at least a year. Among other charges, the 95 are variously accused of embezzlement, money laundering, bribery, malfeasance, alteration of prices, influence peddling, arms possession, omission of obligation to pursue crime, use of false public documents, tax evasion ... the list is long. Allegedly masterminded by Marbella Town Hall 'urban consultant' Juan A. Roca, the case has accumulated so many documents -200,000 pages in 196 volumes, plus another 30,000 separate documents for the main case alone- that two lorries were needed to transport them. Nevertheless, a CD containing all the documents were handed to each of the hundred-plus lawyers involved, because Judge José Godino called the paperwork 'impossible'. Among the accused are three people related to Jimena and, naturally, to other places in the Campo de Gibraltar and elsewhere: Juan Antonio Roca, who built an enormous mansion in the municipality, called La Morisca; Julián Muñoz, who has a girlfriend in Jimena and is often seen around the village, and Rafael Gómez Sánchez 'Sandokán', who owned (owns?) the Arenal 2000 development company that left many of its developments unfinished and/or largely unsold.