Formal charges against 22 suspects in Ballena Blanca

Formal charges against 22 suspects in Ballena Blanca
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By m.p - Aug 2, 2007 - 10:11 AM

Archive photo - EFE.

The amount of money laundered could be more than 150 million €

Judge Miguel Ángel Torres has closed his instruction of the Ballena Blanca – White Whale – money laundering case with charges against 22 suspects. One of them is the man believed to be at the centre of the money laundering network, the Chilean lawyer, Fernando del Valle, whose Marbella office was at the centre of the investigation.

La Opinión de Málaga gives details this morning of the judge’s case summary : 523 companies set up by del Valle and his secretary, Estela Elena, for money laundering purposes. The paper says 139 of them were set up in 14 fiscal paradises which include Gibraltar, Belize, the Isle of Man, Switzerland, Costa Rica, and Delaware in the United States. Other companies were set up in Spain to buy more than 250 luxury properties worth millions of euros on the Costa del Sol.

The lawyer received close to 4 million € as payment for hiding the wealth of clients from Morocco, Lebanon, Italy, Finland and other countries.

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor estimates that the amount of money laundered could be as much as 152 million €.

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