Mayor of Alcaucín had 160,000 Euro under the mattress

Mayor of Alcaucín had 160,000 Euro under the mattress
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By h.b. - Mar 1, 2009 - 8:23 AM
12 of the 13 people arrested remain in custody and will start appearing in court in Vélez-Málaga on Monday

Guardia Civil outside the Mayor's home in Alcaucín - EFE

The arrested Socialist Mayor of the Málaga village of Alcaucín had 160,000 € hidden under his mattress, which was found in the Guardia Civil search of his house in the early hours of Friday. The Mayor told the agents that the money was his ‘lifetime savings’.

José Manuel Martín Alba was arrested in the latest real estate corruption scandal to hit Spain, in an operation codenamed ‘Arcos’. His two daughters and another ten people were also arrested, and the total amount of cash recovered in searches is reported to be 250,000 €. Much of this was found in Cartaya in Huelva where a real estate promoter allegedly linked to the case was arrested.

The case is being instructed by the courts in Vélez-Málaga, and relates to the illegal promotion, construction and sale of urbanizations and individual properties on rustic land in the Axarquía region.

Those arrested face charges of bribery, money laundering, influence peddling, perversion of the course of justice, document falsification, land planning irregularities and fraud. The fraud comes from the sale of property, mostly to foreigners, as legal, when in fact it was not. Only one of the 13 people arrested in total has been released. It’s alleged that the businessmen arrested paid backhanders to certain civil servants to cover up the irregularities.

José Manuel Martín Alba, Mayor of Alcaucín, being arrested - EFE

Those arrested are the Mayor of Alcaucín and his two daughters, a worker at the architecture department Provincial Diputación in Málaga and his secretary,(now released), the owner of a construction company in Alcaucín and his daughter, the owner of a business in Vélez-Málaga, his daughter and son in law, two promoters from Rincon de la Victoria and Cartaya and a fiscal advisor.

Statements before the judge start on Monday.
Juan Espadas, the Regional Councillor for Housing, said that the Junta had registered 21 denuncias for real estate irregularities in Alcaucín from individuals, and had challenged 27 building licences granted by the Town Hall. He defended the regional government’s role in the control of real estate planning.

Alcaucín has been under the inspection of local ecologists for some time. They estimate as many as 20,000 homes have been built illegally on rustic land in the area. One group, using satellite photos, has counted 1,064 new properties built on rural land in the area between 1991 and 2007.

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