Operation Malaya ( es, Operación Malaya) is a Spanish anti-

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

campaign in the southern

resort city A resort town, often called a resort city or resort destination, is an urban area where tourism or vacationing is the primary component of the local culture and economy. A typical resort town has one or more actual resorts in the surrounding ...

Marbella Marbella ( , , ) is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the r ...

. It began in 2006 and it is being carried out by the '' Policía Nacional'' under the direction of Judge Miguel Ángel Torres. The operation, now in its third phase, has the objective of exposing a network involved in concealing numerous illicit activities, (including

bribery Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...

embezzlement Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

, and

influence peddling Influence peddling is the practice of using one's influence in government or connections with authorities to obtain favours or preferential treatment for another, usually in return for payment. It is also called traffic of influence or trading i ...

) carried out by members of the Marbella City Council, businessmen, and prominent lawyers, among others. More than €2.4 billion has been seized so far. On May 3, 2007, singer

Isabel Pantoja María Isabel Pantoja Martín (; born August 2, 1956) is a Spanish singer. She was born in the Triana district of Seville, Spain. She has released more than a dozen albums throughout a career spanning many decades, mostly of '' copla'' genre, ...

was arrested for possible

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...

and

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

, which she allegedly did on behalf of the former mayor of Marbella, Julián Muñoz. He has already been jailed as part of the investigation, along with more than 100 others. Pantoja was later released on €90,000 bail.

Background

In March 2005, investigations of the White Whale Operation dismantled the largest network of money laundering in the country. The evidence collected included intercepts of telephone conversations relating to cases of urban corruption in the Costa del Sol. A year later, Marbella City Council was wound up, and was replaced by a management committee presided over by Don Diego Martín Reye, pending fresh elections. Following the creation of this management committee for Marbella City Hall, and after the arrival of democratic normality, the

Andalusian Autonomous Government The Regional Government of Andalusia ( es, Junta de Andalucía) is the government of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Regional Government and the Government Council. The 2011 budget was 31. ...

withdrew the authority to give urban planning consent rom Marbella City Councilbased on Article 31.4 of the Andalusian Law on Urban Planning. This was according to the wording of the Law of November 2005 which states, "due to its serious influence on the planning powers of the regional autonomous authority he Junta de Andalucía set out in the Urban Planning Law of Andalusia (LOUA)", as reported by the Minister of the Board of Public Works and Transport."

Related investigations

Operation Malaya opened the door to subsequent investigations into possible cases of urban corruption in Spain. While not all of Spain experienced such a high level of construction projects as the

Costa del Sol The Costa del Sol (literally "Coast of the Sun" or "Sun Coast") is a region in the south of Spain in the autonomous community of Andalusia, comprising the coastal towns and communities along the coastline of the Province of Málaga and the easte ...

prior to 2008, evidence of similar abuses has come to light in other parts of the country. There has already been consideration of what might be done to prevent similar webs of corruption in the future. It is widely acknowledged that the planning process in Spain could be improved to make the allocation of land for development more transparent.

References

External links

City Mayors: Corruption in Marbella
Daniel González Herrera, ''CityMayors.com''
Spain's biggest corruption trial ends with 53 people convicted
4 October 2013, Paul Hamilos, ''The Guardian'' Politics of Spain Anti-corruption agencies Corruption in Spain Scandals in Spain {{crime-stub