Marbella fire impacts Julio Iglesias home

Next door to British man who died

MÁLAGA / Ojén The residents of all kinds of urbanizations in the five municipalities that became involved in last weekend's fire (Coín, Alhaurín el Grande, Mijas, Marbella and Ojén) have tragic stories to tell. One of them is that of the caretakers at the Julio Iglesias home in Ojén, Reposo del Guerrero, above Marbella. They were evacuated in time and had to stay away for 24 hours as the fire came up very close to the house. The singer and his wife, Miranda, and children had already left for their Miami residence, when the fires broke out, but>>>SOON YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO READ THE REST OF ITEMS SUCH AS THIS UNLESS YOU SUBSCRIBE. Subscription information will b available soon.>>>

Fires in Spain: animals also suffer, but be careful with the appeals

Illustration only

SPAIN /Marbella The fires that have raged throughout Spain this summer have impacted not only the people who have died in them, the injured and their families, and many homes, but also the animals in their vicinity. Wild or domestic, they will surely have suffered enormously. To bring this awareness closer to home, the fire that swept through the Marbella area over the weekend, caused the death of over 75 domestic pets, according to one source. Where these figures come from, we don't know, as the authorities rarely if ever give out anything related to animals in such cases. In any case, a number of Facebook and other appeals are under way. We are trying to locate the genuine ones and will publish them as soon as we can, but please be aware that scam artists are also looking for your money. (Watch this space, but if you have any information on genuine appeals, please let us know!)

Where's he been? What's he up to? Why?

You will have noticed a dearth of posts this last week - if you hadn't noticed, shame on yer! That's because Prospero has been busy on other projects and anyway, he deserved a bit of a holiday as relief from the pressure of keeping up with all the news. This, of course, means that he won't be posting updates except where he deems it necessary (pompous beggar!). You might want to watch this space for follow-ups, such as those relating to the Marbella fire (reporting on which he left to the BBC and others...). In any case, he apologises for any inconvenience.

Gibraltarian arrested on drug charges in Marbella

MARBELLA (GibChronicle) A 75-year Gibraltarian answering to the initials M.P. was arrested in Marbella on March 22 in connection with a Portuguese investigation into drug trafficking, according to reports in the Spanish media. The arrest was carried out by officers of the Policia Nacional Drugs and Organised Crime Unit acting on a European arrest warrant issued by Portuguese authorities. It is not clear whether he remains under arrest in Spain or whether he has been transferred to Portugal, or indeed released.

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.

Gil heirs to pay for father's sins

Jesus Gil and son

MARBELLA (EP) The Court of Auditors has ordered the children of the late Jesús Gil, a larger-than-life and controversial businessman and politician to pay over €100 million in compensation to the municipality of Marbella for accounting irregularities during his spell as mayor of the glitzy southern Mediterranean resort town. As inheritors of their father's estate, the court ruled his children had also inherited his obligations and ordered Jesús, Miguel Ángel, Fernando and María Ángeles Gil Marín to pay €66.5 million for the losses caused by the municipality by their late father and a further €39 million in interest, local newspaper Sur reported. The irregularities date back to the period 1994-1999.>

Spain's 'biggest' money-laundering case fizzles out

MARBELLA (Source: El Pais) Fernando del Valle (photo, on hearing decision), a 62-year-old Chilean-born lawyer, pinned as the mastermind behind the Ballena Blanca (White Whale) operation, was ordered to serve a jail sentence of six years and three months and pay a 3.5-million-euro fine. His main co-defendant, Tunisian-born drug-trafficker Sophiane Hambli, was sentenced to three years and fined 1.5 million euros. Prosecutor Antonio Morales, who was asking for a 30-year sentence for Del Valle and higher sentences for the others, said that he will study whether to appeal the sentences before the Supreme Court.>

Anti- anti-smoking ban restaurant closed down by the police

MARBELLA/Guadalmina (Agencies) The restaurant owner who defied the new anti-smoking ban at his restaurant, has put a temporary stop to his quixotic campaign. José Eugenio Arias-Camisón (photo) was serving a couple of beers and some pintxos (tapas in the North of Spain) at 9pm on Thursday last week, when the Local Police turned up with an order to close the estblishment. He refused, and argued for some time before he was advised that if he didn't he would be arrested. But that doesn't mean that he has given up. A few minutes after his Asador Guadalmina closed its doors,>

Spain's two largest corruption cases have property developer in common; properties in Sotogrande

SPAIN/Marbella/Sotogrande (Agencies) The two largest (so far) corruption cases in court have one single property developer in common. In both the Gürtel and Malaya cases the name of Emilio Rodríguez Bugallo appears as involved in several very questionable deals. Bugallo, who died while under investigation in the Malaya case, was the father in law of Francisco Correa (photo, at José María Aznar's daughter's wedding), who heads the Gürtel culprits list. He also surfaces as one of the principal beneficiaries of land and property deals carried out by Juan Antonio Roca, who heads a similar list in the Malaya case. The judge in charge of Gürtel, Antonio Pedreira, was recently given a list he had ordered from the Anti-corruption unit of the National Police, that says that properties owned by several if not all of those involved in the case include land, apartments, villas,  garages, boats, luxury vehicles  and such 'humble' items (as one paper put it) all over the country and abroad, accumulated over a decade of dodgy activity. The list includes properties in Marbella and Sotogrande, where developer Emilio Rodríguez Bugallo operated for years. The province of Cadiz alone registers 28 properties in various names and companies asociated with the Gürtel case, others are in Madrid (27), Malaga (16), the  Balearics, Valencia, Alicante, Pontevedra and Barcelona.

Sean Connery misses court appointment

MARBELLA (Agencies) Sir Sean and Lady Connery should have been in court in Marbella yesterday but failed to turn up. Instead, their lawyers sent the judge in the 'Goldfinger' case (really creative name, that) a letter excusing the Connery's absence due to 'age and health'. As we reported here, the case, a spin-off of the infamous Malaya case, is about the Connerys having sold their home in Puerto Banús, which gave way to an allegedly illegal development called Malibú (photo). The finances of the deal are apparently somewhat opaque, so the judge wants to make more enquiries about them.

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.

Former Marbella mayor not allowed to enter Gibraltar to visit girlfriend's parents

JIMENA/GIBRALTAR/MARBELLA (Photo: CampoPulse files) Julián Muñoz, the former Mayor of Marbella facing umpteen law suits about his time in that position, was told by one of the judges handling his many cases, that he is not allowed to go to Gibraltar to visit his Gibraltarian girlfriend's parents. Muñoz is an almost permanent resident at his girlfriend Karina Pau's  home in Jimena, where he can be seen at many local establishments; indeed, she used to run one of these in Estación de Jimena (a.k.a. Los Ángeles) with a former partner (photo). Although Muñoz has had his passport removed, one can enter Gibraltar legally on a Spanish ID card. (Prospero note: I ran into him at the petrol station washing his car the other day. And my best regards to Karina, whom I haven't seen for a long time.)

One of UK's most wanted men arrested in Marbella

MARBELLA (BBC) James Tomkins, 61, was arrested in Marbella by Spanish authorities over the drive-by murder of electrician Rocky Dawson, 24, in Hornchurch, Essex, in May 2006. Mr Dawson was shot dead outside his parent's home as he was putting his two children into his car. Mr Tomkins is due in court in Madrid on Friday for extradition proceedings. He was captured in the coastal town of Puerto Banus after armed plain-clothes officers and uniformed police from Madrid and Malaga raided an address. The fugitive attempted to escape by jumping out of the window but was tracked by air support and arrested by officers on the ground. Officers have not been able to find the motive behind the killing. A reward of £20,000 for information had been offered.

Obama welcome sign pulled down

(Photo: Reuters/Jon Nazca)A billboard put up to welcome Michelle Obama, who arrives in town tomorrow with daughter Sasha, was ordered to be taken down by Marbella Council this afternoon. The sign, which also read 'Thank you for choosing Marbella', was placed there by local ad agencies Imagen Consulting and Compremosa Sur. The billboard may be down but the hotel at which the Obamass are staying is now surrounded by Guardia Civil and traffic around Benahavis is becoming more complicated by the minute. (See earlier item here)

Preparations mount for Obamas' Costa visit

COSTA DEL SOL

Followers of every media on and around the Costa del Sol will know that America’s first lady Michelle Obama and her daughter Sasha, 9, are coming for a five-day visit to Marbella tomorrow (Older daughter, Malia, 12, is at summer camp and won't be coming, it seems). But will the world’s most powerful man, Barack Obama, be joining them for his 49th birthday on August 4? Press sources say that the White House insists the president will not be joining his family, but hotel sources claimed that a cake has been ordered for the big night. It is also rumoured that the president will fly into the US air force base in Moron de la Frontera, where he would then be flown by helicopter to the coast.>

Sean Connery faces court questions over Marbella land deal

MARBELLA
(The Scotsman) Spanish media said the former James Bond star and his wife Micheline Roquebrune are to be called to a court over matters related to the sale of an estate in the area. For 20 years Sir Sean has holidayed at Malibu, his lavish seaside property in Marbella. After their wedding in 1975 he and his wife spent much of their time on the Costa del Sol, where they indulged their love of golf in between his film projects. After its sale in 1998, a block of 70 flats was built on the spot. Sir Sean put the block up for sale a decade ago for £6 million, according to reports in the Spanish media. The couple had owned and lived in the luxury mansion, which had three guest houses, a pool and 5,093 square metres of garden, since the early 1970s. But on Wednesday>

Geoff Hurst caught up in Spanish property deal scam

Football legend Sir Geoff Hurst is apparently caught up in a Spanish property scandal. The British press quotes him as being "full of remorse" and having been allegedly "used and abused" by the Royal Marbella Group, for whom he became a spokesperson and project ambassador. Hurst told the High Court on Monday that he had been deceived by a "cynical scheme" to con investors. Sir Geoff and his wife Lady Judith were apparently cheated out of an investment of almost €700,000 by the British business people behind the company, which he was also hired to promote. In the promotion for the project, Hurst, who appeared or allowed his name to be used in brochures and a DVD, was quoted as saying that he had found partners "who won't let me down." In five hours of testimony in the High Court, he admitted he had been "foolish.">