Saturday, July 12, 2008

First blood

The mayor of Benitachell and one of the councillors from the town now have the dubious distinction of being the first on the Costa Blanca to be arrested over alleged construction corruption thanks to the recently created Guardia Civil building corruption investigation squad.

The mayor Juan Cardona Bolufer and his second in command, expat councillor Hanelore Rheindorf, were arrested on charges of trying to get a resident to pay 50,000 euros in exchange for reclassifying land. A police source said a third person, believed to be a German lawyer, has also been arrested.

Following the detentions on Tuesday the official reason for the absence of the mayor was that he was on a trip to the UK.

Although a judge has placed a gagging order on the case, police say that at the moment they are treating it as a single case of urban development corruption but they have not ruled out the possibility that more cases exist.

I don't suppose the problem will be confined to Benitachell either. There are probably a number of mayors and other officials on the Costa Blanca who are now wondering if it will be them next.

PS I have received this comment which adds further detail:

The 3rd person (solicitor) is a German called Kai Wagner (openly named in Spanish news.) Kai, in some quarters, is not well respected and suspect in some of his other dealings. Juan (the mayor) is "well-in" with VAPF developers and I'd bet they are involved somehow. All of them, for one reason or another, have big financial interests on Cumbre del Sol and work together. Still, who knows, Spain is a funny place for corruption within Government- Connie could have been under "pressure" to agree and may well be innocent but under threat if she didn't agree. I continue to watch with interest.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Keith,
"Some sources indicate that a third arrest of a German person accused of acting as an intermediary in an alleged backhander payment, has been made in the case."
The 3rd person (solicitor) is a German called Kai Wagner (openly named in Spanish news.) Kai, in some quarters, is not well respected and suspect in some of his other dealings. Juan (the mayor) is "well-in" with VAPF developers and I'd bet they are involved somehow. All of them, for one reason or another, have big financial interests on Cumbre del Sol and work together. Still, who knows, Spain is a funny place for corruption within Government- Connie could have been under "pressure" to agree and may well be innocent but under threat if she didn't agree. I continue to watch with interest.