SPAIN’S BIGGEST CORRUPTION TRIAL SET TO LAST A YEAR | Costa del Sol | Leader - News, Sport, Advertising, Property, Classifieds - Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, Costa Calida, Costa de Almeria, Spain: "300 journalists covering the trial, it looks like it will be in and out of the news on a regular basis over the next 12 months. The proceedings revolve around alleged real estate fraud in the jet-set resort town Marbella, which all kicked off in the mid-1990s.
The alleged mastermind of the fraud scheme, businessman Juan Antonio Roca, is the only defendant who has been jailed while awaiting the trial. Former town hall officials, lawyers and business representatives are also among the accused. The trial is expected to last a year.
The defendants are alleged to have run Marbella on a cash-for-votes system operated at town hall meetings. Between them they allegedly took €670million (£569m) in bribes, and from municipal funds, over three years. Juan Antonio Roca, the alleged 'Mr Big' who ran Marbella from his private offices for more than a decade, faces fines of some €800m and 35 years in prison sentences.
'Roca partially financed his business dealings with money obtained from businessmen on trial in this case and … given in exchange for favourable town hall decisions, mainly in the planning area,' state prosecutors said. When he was arrested on corruption charges in 2006, his assets included an art-filled palace in Madrid, a country estate with a helipad and a stud farm guarded by a tiger."
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