SPAIN’S LARGEST CORRUPTION TRIAL IS UNDERWAY

On Monday September 27 the Malaya corruption case centred on Marbella town hall was brought before the Málaga provincial court. It was over four years ago that the first arrests hit the head lines and in the dock will be 95 people in Spain’s largest corruption case in the history of the nation. Indeed a special annex has been built on to the Palacio de Justicia based on that used in Madrid for the “March 11 2004” terrorism trial.

The man said to be the mastermind behind this massive town planning scam is Juan Antonio Roca. He was the director of planning at Marbella town hall and the prosecution will attempt to prove that mayors, councillors, officials and businessmen were all involved in his web of corruption.

It is estimated by investigators that Roca personally received over 33 million euros between 2002 and 2006 from his illicit deals. He had been in the post since 1992, brought in by the late disgraced mayor Jesús Gil, and was there to his arrest in March 2006.

The 33 million euros is said to have come in payments to Roca from property developers over that four year period. Many of them will be alongside him in the dock. Five million of this total was passed on by Roca to various councillors at Marbella town hall.

Of those said to have benefitted most from his largesse the former mayor, Marisol Yagüe, received 1.8 million euros – the largest amount handed out. Former mayor Julián Muñoz is alleged to have received 162,000 euros whilst the deputy mayors Isabel García Marcos and Carlos Fernández pocketed lesser sums.

However whilst Roca is known to have received 33 million euros from property developers the prosecutor believes he had the opportunity to misappropriate another 200 million euros from1997 to 2005. In reality the true total will probably never be known. He money laundered vast amounts of cash to hide their origin and in the process bought estates, a boat, an aircraft, a helicopter, hotels, houses and works of art.

Missing from the dock will be three people. The aforementioned deputy mayor Carlos Fernández was walking the Camino de Santiago when the first arrests were carried out – and kept on walking. He is said to have entered Argentina on his own passport with Tunisia and Chile as his most likely resting places. Former councillor Francisco Javier Lendínez was last spotted in Tarifa and is believed to have fled to Portugal or Morocco. Finally the more shadowy figures of José Manuel Llorca Rodríguez who is also said to be involved in the Ballena Blanca money laundering case and the Fórum Filatélico stamp investment scam. Nothing is known of his whereabouts.

A quick guide to the story so far:

March 29 2006 – The town hall was raided with 21 people including Roca were arrested.

June 27 2006 – Judge Torres ordered a second wave of arrests with 31 detained.

November 13 2006 – The last major arrests with 11 held including the former wife of Julián Muñoz, Mayte Zaldivar and her brother.

May 1 2007 – Arrest of the famous singer Isabel Pantoja, the former lover of Julián Muñoz who now faces a separate money laundering trial.

March 29 2008 – Judge Pérez releases Roca from jail after two years of preventive detention which caused a huge row as he demands his job back at Marbella town hall.

April 23 2008 – a high court judge reactivates the Saqueo 1 case and sends Roca back to jail.

March 4 2009 – Pérez processes the case against 20 people and enlarges the charges against Roca and Muñoz.

October 15 2009 – The first pre-trial hearings are held.

September 27 2010 – The trial proper starts.

MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN

I am not a great film fan. I rarely go to the cinema. When I do I hope the seats are uncomfortable so I won’t nod off. I snored through Lawrence of Arabia in London's West End -probably the best thing. Yet with every rule there is an exception or a number of exceptions.

For instance I have seen Cabaret twice in the cinema and numerous times on TV. I saw Clockwork Orange four times, once in French in Paris. Yet the record of my viewing has to be Mad Dogs and Englishman – the film of Joe Cocker’s tour. I don’t know how often I saw it, but it was usually with the Wend in tow, and included at least one late night showing at the cinema in Surbiton in Surrey. So keen I was.

Although the film revolved around the Joe Cocker tour the star for me was singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist Leon Russell. He’d previously written Delta Lady which was a hit for Cocker in 1969.I revered Leon Russell bought his ‘Leon Russell’ album with ‘A song for you’ and also 1972 album ‘Carney’ which featured the number ‘This Masquerade’.

Now here’s the thing. In the film Mad Dogs and Englishmen Russell wore a top hat and had silvery grey hair. The same on his album covers. Hence as a trendy young man about Chelsea (and Swiss Cottage) I presumed he was an old timer hanging on.

So today I thought I had better check him out to see when he passed away. Well it was a pleasant surprise to find he is still with us but a might shock to learn he is only seven years older than me. Seven years! And whilst yes I did have premature designer grey hair (thanks again to the Wend and the all-star hairdresser Winston) he seemed to be wearing less well than me at the time.

Over the years Leon Russell has worked with the who’s who of musicians and singers Joe Cocker, The Carpenters, Jerry Lee Lewis, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Elton John, Eric Clapton, The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Willie Nelson, Badfinger, Frank Sinatra, The Band, Glen Campbell and The Rolling Stones to name but a few.

Last year Leon Russell wrote songs with Elton John and Bernie Taupin which was recorded in February and will be released about now. I will buy it!

But, come on, seven years!

SING ALONG WITH THE WORM GANG!

I hope to bring a smile to your face although this is a very serious subject. Actually it is James Machin who will wiggle your facial muscles and not me.

I first met James many moons ago at GBC, Gibraltar’s broadcaster, when he was producing a series of science films for schools.

Some years later and I met James again when he arranged to send me some information on “peak oil” which he was promoting on the Costa del Sol and in Gibraltar. At that time “peak oil” was a potty theory promoted by batty environmentalists of which James was proud to be one.

Times have indeed moved on and “peak oil” is one of the current buzz phrase used by financial analysts and politicians. “Peak oil” has gone from being an ecologists’ rant to the mainstream of political and economic thought and has been joined by “Peak food” and no doubt “Peak water” is lurking in the wings.

James has also been behind the movement to form Transition Towns in Spain creating with members of Ecologistas en Acción “Estepona – Ciudad de Transición’.

Now James has a new and rather exciting project the YouTube Channel Win, Win TV. He told me: “I launched a YouTube channel recently that is promoting “Transition” and is featuring Coín in Málaga province. It is also offering participatory food growing projects - primarily to city dwellers. The first project - Working with a Worm Gang is up.”

Indeed it is and if you are up for it – click here! I promise you will smile!

If you are interested in learning more about the important Transition Towns project which will become a main steam political theme in the future you can visit the UK website – click here

LIBERTAD JUANJO Y JORGE

At 7.30 on Monday evening over one thousand people gathered outside Los Barrios town hall to show their support for two local men, Jorge Cano and Juan José Ramírez – who face three years in jail in Morocco on drugs charges. The mayor, councillors and residents all insist they are innocent.

I have reported previously on the “Tangier Two” who went fishing with Jorge’s young son,
David, off Tarifa on June 5 but in thick fog they found themselves instead metres from the Morocco coast with little fuel. They called the Spanish coast guard for help but were detained by a Moroccan patrol.

At first they were detained for having entered Morocco in an irregular manner – without passports – but later as bales of drugs and a jet ski were found in the area they were accused of trafficking.

There is no evidence to link them with the drugs and the Spanish coast guard knows the identity of the Jet Ski owner but will not release the information to the Moroccan court as it would break the data protection act.

Los Barrios council passed a motion voicing their unreserved support for Jorge and Juan on July 30 and the mayor and spokespersons of all the parties visited them in Tangier on September 9 to show solidarity and to review their case.

However Monday was the day when the people of Los Barrios came on to the streets to declare their belief in Jorge and Juan’s innocence and to plead for their release. Their court appeal is to be heard on September 28 and the Spanish consul hopes their lawyer will be able to reveal to the court the identity of the Jet Ski owner.

The Spanish ambassador to Morocco has been carefully watching the case and has been working in conjunction with the consul in Tangier. Their efforts have prevented Jorge and Juan from being held in prison until after their appeal hearing.

It is also known that the Spanish Foreign Minister and Minister for the Interior have been kept fully informed of developments. However as Senator José Carracao, who knows one of the family’s involved, stressed to me prudence was the watchword as it is a judicial and not a political matter.

There is a Facebook page, which can be found at: Libertad para Jorge y Juan, through which residents of Los Barrios have been showing their support. Now everybody awaits September 28, with their hoped for acquittal, especially as an agency of the Spanish Government could prove their innocence.

CANCER IS NOT GOING AWAY

Spain will have 250,000 cases of cancer in 2020 which is almost 30 percent more than the 200,000 existing level. The data comes from the Agencia Internacional de Investigación en Cáncer that says the blame will lie at the door of an ever increasing unhealthy lifestyle.

The scientific co-ordinator of the national cancer strategy unit at the ministry of health who is also the director of Plan Oncológico in Cataluña, Josep Borrás, has projected a rise of 15 per cent across Europe bringing the level to 3.7 million cases in the next ten years.

In Spain 150,000 men and 92,140 women will suffer from cancer with 2,023,969 men and 1,660,214 women suffers across Europe. Experts say that prostate cancer will be the main disease suffered by men replacing lung cancer although its rate is increasing amongst women.

The reasons for the increase in cancer rates will be due to smoking, the lack of a balanced diet and insufficient physical exercise.

I doubt whether any reader of this blog has not been touched by the pain of cancer in some way. If these findings are right then cancer is not only refusing to go away but also is on the increase. I guess if we stop smoking, eat correctly and exercise then we could buck the trend. Yet cancer seemingly doesn’t discriminate between the outwardly healthy and couch potatoes – at least not in my experience. Our one hope is that whilst cancer cases may be on the rise so too should the number of people who contract this disease yet survive. That is the one statistic Josep Borrás didn’t give us – the statistic of hope.

A LINENSE VIEW

Yesterday in Panorama I gave my prospective of the damage inflicted on cross border relations by the malicious scheme by the mayor of La Línea, Alejandro Sánchez, to impose a toll on vehicles leaving Gibraltar and entering his municipality.

It was a viewpoint garnered from Gibraltarians but I believe it is also important to listen to the views of somebody living across the border in La Línea. Hence today I bring you the thoughts of Juan José Uceda Gil who although Spanish and living in La Línea has worked in Gibraltar for many years. He is also the spokesperson for many community groups in the border town including the Spanish workers (ASCTEG) on the Rock. Here he expresses his own personal view.

I asked him what damage did he think had been done to cross border relations by the toll fiasco? He replied:

“I have to say David that the majority of people know it was a political move, of the same kind that the political leader of the PP in Algeciras, Sr Landaluce is always attacking Gibraltar in the media on the themes of the patrols, the jurisdiction of the waters, pollution from the bunkering tankers, the nuclear submarines even though there are none, the airport because he wants it to be Spanish. Always this is very unjust it is the same with the mayor of La Línea who has re-opened wounds that were almost closed from when Franco sealed the border.

“Of course on both sides of the border there are extreme patriots who say these things in bad temper or “mala leche” yearning for times past and to harm relations.

“I do not agree personally with the views and the encounters of the CC.OO and UGT unions with Caruana and the Gib union, they have held a political meeting which has more to do with the need for support for the general strike on September 29 than any long term commitment.

“Also they have forgotten the other side – the Spanish workers in Gibraltar who are suffering psychologically because of the origins of the toll row.

“It has prejudiced the commercial relations that the same mayor initiated some months ago with industry and commerce in Gibraltar and with Mr Caruana when Sr Sánchez said to the unemployed of La Línea that thanks to his meetings in Gibraltar they are now negotiating to generate employment on various projects for the “third age” and others which because of professional secrecy he could not reveal.

“In the end the people of good faith in La Línea and Gibraltar above all, must forget what has happened, but Gibraltar has the pain of the closure of the border and it will take many years until all this is cured. You cannot simply erase what our mayor has done.

“The fact is that the majority people who live in La Línea are against what he wants to do.

“Alejandro took a week before we met to discuss the toll proposal. The meeting produced nothing productive because he had a blind spot as far as the toll is concerned and he wouldn’t withdraw the idea and apologise to the people of Gibraltar. I told him his proposal would create conflict to the point where the government’s delegate would have to intervene and he hoped the national media would depict him as the ‘linease’ hero.

“The PP high command in Madrid with members who are anti British and for the Spanish flag in Gibraltar insist to Alejandro that he continues with the toll because this opens the way for these people who are followers of the dictator and now there is proof that some people in the military have sanctioned it and the press says that the military does not want an accord based on the government’s policy towards Gibraltar.

“We are now preparing leaflets, posters and petitions which we shall be using from 7.30 this morning (Friday) in Gibraltar to advise that on Tuesday September 21 we have a demonstration at the border, without blocking it, by the statue of the Spanish worker from16.00 to 19.00 and if there are enough supporters we will go from their to the town hall.

“On Friday afternoon ASCTEG has its second meeting to form a group or action group against the toll and we have invited all the political parties (except for the PP obviously), community groups and the unemployed to join us.

“Mi opinión y lo que vida día a día.”

(The above article was published in Panorama on Friday September 17)

THE DAMAGE IS DONE

On Monday Panorama carried my interview with Senator José Carracao who is responsible for cross border relations for the governing PSOE party. He urged Gibraltarians not to panic or be unduly concerned because he is adamant the toll (which will be levied on all vehicles leaving the Rock and entering Spain by La Línea town hall) will not be imposed. He urged the “strange behaviour” of La Línea’s mayor Alejandro Sánchez should not damage cross-border friendships. Hopefully not, but major damage has already been done.

This whole sorry episode has already impacted on cross border relations plus those between Gibraltar and Spain. I suspect it hasn’t between London and Madrid because the Foreign Office will take the view that Spain has sorted the problem and it’s behind the scenes diplomacy has worked.

Here on the ground though there is a different tale to tell.

The mayor of La Línea has set himself against the Spanish workers who cross the border each day and we have seen an alliance formed to fight the toll between the UGT – CC.OO and Unite which has further infuriated Sánchez.

There have been campaigns for Gibraltarians to boycott businesses in La Línea.

There has been traffic chaos on both sides of the border caused by Sánchez playing around with the road system and installing signs well before any start date for the toll.

My suspicion is whilst that damage is real enough it is in the hearts and minds of Gibraltarians where we will find the raw truth.

Ever since the Córdoba Accords were signed the GSD government has instilled a feel good factor on Gibraltar’s relations with Spain. It has trumpeted the meetings, the agreements, the co-operation and whilst many Gibraltarians have been frustrated by the continuing queues at the border pre Sánchez – and angered by the Guardia Civil incursions the message has been things can only get better.

Now Gibraltarians have seen the neighbouring mayor use them in his battle with Madrid to bail out his bankrupt town hall – ruined by the mismanagement and corruption of the GIL and PP era. They have seen the ‘bash Gibraltar card’ used shamelessly by Sánchez and the Partido Popular at national and an Andalucía level. They have seen the PP’s candidate for the Andalucía presidency, Javier Arenas, blasting the PSOE government for not getting tough with Gibraltar over the Guardia Civil, the land reclamation and Spain’s jurisdiction over the Rock’s waters. Here’s a leopard who has not changed his spots.

Lyana Armstrong-Emery told me: “After the events that led to the closure of the border and its re-opening twenty eight years ago to pedestrians it has taken these many years to build up the trust and good will between the two sides of the borders. It has taken a lot of hard work and co-operation from politicians, unions, NGO’s, organisations and ordinary folk to achieve this. Mr Sanchez has in a few weeks managed to damage cordial relations between the two towns and has revived distrust and memories of a very troubled past which will be difficult to reverse.”

Last Friday Gibraltar celebrated its National Day and despite the two shows in town Llanitos were united as a people because they again faced Spanish aggression. The old raw wounds were opened up and people saw past Córdoba to the reality – Spain wanted at least joint sovereignty and would not hold back from threatening and abusing the Rock in its own sordid internal political squabbles.

In his National Day message the GSLP leader, Joe Bossano, stated: “we will never, ever permit the Spanish flag over our homeland.” I suspect if you cut him open you would find those words engraved on his heart. Yet under Córdoba it could be argued we have moved on from that rhetoric of yesteryear. I suspect that if it hadn’t been for the harassment of the past year plus the toll fiasco Joe Bossano would have delivered a more forward looking, upbeat message. Yet he spoke from his heart and in so doing struck a chord with the majority of Gibraltarians.

Cross border relations lie battered and bruised whilst Córdoba is at death’s door.

(The above article appeared in Panorama on Thursday September 16).