Juan Antonio Roca released on bail after paying one million Euro

Juan Antonio Roca released on bail after paying one million Euro
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By h.b. - Apr 15, 2008 - 7:56 AM

Juan Antonio Roca - Archive Photo EFE

The man at the centre of the Malaya corruption case in Marbella has made bail after being held for two years on remand.

The man at the centre of the Malaya corruption case in Marbella, the ex Municipal Real Estate assessor, Juan Antonio Roca, has been released on bail from the Albolote prison in Granada, after his family finally raised the one million Euro bail money demanded by the second instruction judge in the case, Óscar Pérez. It took them some 17 days to do so, as Roca’s assets have been frozen as part of the Malaya investigation.

The instruction judge’s decision to grant bail was criticised and challenged unsuccessfully by the local Marbella Town Hall and the regional Andalucian government, who both fear that there is a serious flight risk.

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, Juan Carlos López Caballero, has also made it clear that he considers that Roca should have been kept in prison for the maximum period allowed on remand in Spain, that’s to say for another two years.

Speaking to the press after his release, Juan Antonio Roca, said that the bail showed justice had been done and that he only asked to be treated ‘like any other citizen’.
He said that the procedures in the Malaya case have been irregular and that many accusations had been invented against him. He said the case had been so disproportionate it should be in the Guinness Book of Records.
‘Now I am going to demonstrate my innocence’, he said.

Juan Antonio Roca has been held in prison for two years in the Málaya case, admitted on March 31 2006. Under the bail conditions he will have to present himself to the court every day, and will not be allowed to leave the country or go closer than 500m to any private or public airfield.

He faces charges of the misuse of public funds, bribery, and money laundering. He is the last person charged solely in the Malaya case to be granted bail and the amount, 1 million €, is the highest bail awarded.

Juan Antonio Roca was the right hand man of the late and ex Mayor of Marbella, Jesús Gil y Gil and formed part of the Town Hall after the Gil win in the town in 1991. He was sacked from the Town Hall for a time by Gil’s successor, Julián Muñoz in August 2003, but later readmitted when Marisol Yagüe became Mayor after a motion of censure against Muñoz later that year.

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