There’s only one place to start this month’s effort, for it’s not often our village makes the national news! I refer of course to the investigation (code-named Gürtel) into the source of funds used to purchase some of the houses built on the new(ish) urbanisation Alminares, abutting the Monte de Los Almendros.
The Ed is all over this story (you know how he loves a bit of local scandal), so I’ll confine myself to what I’ve been able to discover from my local sources. Of course, like everything else, the matter has quickly descended to the level of local politics, with opposition parties quick to make all the political capital they can out of it. However, it seems in this case that any fault lies not with the Town Hall, whose only involvement with the project was the issuing of the appropriate licenses. My sources assure me that these were given after all the usual investigations and surveys and transparent payment of the fees.
Even the IU (far-left opposition) are not claiming anything other than this. So, it seems the Mayor and his Town Hall has completely clean hands in this case. As one non-political insider put it to me, “We may not be the most efficient administration in the world – but there is not even a whiff of corruption here”.
No, the problem appears to be that several (no exact number is available) of the properties have been purchased using ‘laundered’ money. My knowledge of how this works is limited to leaving the occasional €5 note in the pocket of my shorts before they’re washed – but it seems the purchase of property is a well-known device for people who are in possession of illegal funds to bring the money back into legal circulation. Quite sophisticated, it is.
This development, however, has always had something disquieting about it. First, there was the attempt made to pipe into the infrastructure of El Monte for water, sewage and road access, which was firmly rejected by the residents of the above – they closed off the road and cut off the water. Then, I happened to visit this development just as it was completing. Interestingly, I was told that four of the properties had been bought by, “A very senior Civil Servant from Granada.” It seemed like a lot of money for anybody on a Civil Service salary to me then. Now it just seems suspicious.