Marbella constructor José Ávila Rojas, arrived at the prison in Albolote

Marbella constructor José Ávila Rojas, arrived at the prison in Albolote on Wednesday morning to complete an eight year sentence for four counts of tax fraud. His appeal against last year’s sentence from the Granada provincial court was turned down by the Supreme Court last month, and it left no other means open to try and avoid entering prison.The fraud relates to the purchase and sale of two properties in Marbella, Málaga province, at the beginning of this decade, calculated as amounting to 3.5 million € in unpaid IVA and income tax. The sentence from the Granada court last summer also ordered the businessman to pay a fine of 10 million €.
EFE reports he was due to spend Wednesday in the prison’s admissions department before being assigned to a cell at some stage on Thursday.

54,000 newly built homes in Málaga province which remain unsold on the market.

latest study from the Ministry for Housing shows that there are 54,000 newly built homes in Málaga province which remain unsold on the market.
Local promoters however doubt the number, which they say is closer to 25,000.The regional government, the Junta de Andalucía, has plans which will convert some of the empty homes into VPO assisted housing, but this is proving to be practically impossible in practice. The promoters say that the requirements for eligibility for the VPO plan need to be relaxed.It comes as forecasts for the local economy as a whole will see growth next year of 0.6%, compared with just under 2% for this, and will not create any new employment. Economic analysts from the Unicaja Group, said that there will be a fall in production in the province next year, and the economy will see no real recovery in 2010 either.

Thirty robberies at chemists shops in Málaga province

Thirty robberies at chemists shops in Málaga province, and the authorities are so concerned about the situation that the police have drawn up a special plan to try to give better protection to the chemists and their staff. Working in conjunction with the College of Pharmacists, which is to provide the addresses and phone numbers of every one of the 600 shops, police all over the province will now change their patrol routes to include all the streets in which pharmacies are located, and hope that this will dissuade would-be robbers as well as providing reassurance to the staff. The police will give talks about possible security measures and what to do if a robbery does occur, regular meetings will be held with the councillor for public safety, and the College is promising to provide assistance with legal aspects after a robbery, and to stand as private prosecutor in any court cases resulting from a theft. The number of robberies at pharmacies is already 20% higher than last year, and several establishments have been targeted more than once. The thieves are normally hoping to find drugs such as Viagra which can be sold for a good price on the black market.