Coming Home to Roost
First of all, it is very important to make it very clear here that not all the villas in Urbanisación las Alminares are tainted by this scandal – many were bought by honest people through honest means. However, quite a few of the 40 villas contained within the complex have allegedly been a key instrument in laundering black money.
To understand what this is all about, it is necessary to explain a bit of the background behind El Caso Gürtel. This is the name of the huge scandal, allegedly involving black money, favours between businessmen and politicians, gifts and, above all, a huge blow to the Partido Popular in Valencia primarily, but also with repercussions in the party in Galicia, Mallorca and Madrid.
The affair came to light in February 2009 when Judge Garzón opened a judicial investigation involving alleged corruption amongst the ranks of the Partido Popular, after the national newspaper, El País, published the result of their investigative reporting. The paper, in turn, had been inspired by the denuncia lodged by a disaffected PP councillor for Majadahonda, José Luis Peñas in November 2007, followed by the secret recordings made by the manager of one of the main companies involved, Easy Concept.
The key figure, or the very centre of the spider’s web, if you prefer, is Spanish businessman Francisco Correa. This man is the name behind the ghost companies, Easy Concept, Special Events and Orange Market. The aim of these companies was to feed off public entities with the alleged connivance of conservative politicians in town halls and autonomous administrations of Madrid, Valencia, Galicia and Castilla-Leon.
Francisco Correa managed to place himself in the optimum spot, thanks to his being appointed personally by ex-Spanish Prime Minister, José María Aznar, giving him the task to organise party public events. It is worth noting that the present PP leaders, Mariano Rajoy and the First Minister of the Madrid regional government ceased to deal with him once Aznar stepped down.
By allegedly using cash bribes and gifts to public functionaries, all belonging to the PP, amongst them, reportedly the son-in-law of Aznar.
Salobreña is definitely small fry, compared to these political convulsions with the Partido Popular on a nationwide level, but it was the last thing that the PP Mayor of Salobreña needed. Consequently he made it clear before the press that the Town Hall of Salobreña had nothing to do with the illegal goings on in Urbanisación Alminares. Indeed, there is no suggestion of it either – this is purely the private laundering of money, involving the generation of black money in Spain, it’s being sent abroad to puppet companies, Fountain Lake and Rustfield, and then sent back again to be invested in real estate and thus legalised. He defends the legality of the building licence granted to the development company. The opposition, however, suddenly have a Hiroshima-stick to hit him with, wringing their hands and lamenting that the village should be tainted by this scandal.
According to the Public Prosecution Office, Jesús Calvo, sole Administrator of Madrid-based real-estate company, Nuevos Projectos Inmobiliarios, is merely a front man for Francisco Correa. All told, Jesús Calvo has 19 ghost companies, according the investigative judge, whose function is to ‘justify via company accounts earning and expenses not based on real dealings.’
With this set up, in May 2003 – six months after N.P.I came into being – it purchased on Monte de los Almendros a plot of land for 1,352 million euros on which 40 chalets were built. To do this the real estate company requested just over a million euros from Caja Madrid, later increased to six million. Despite this, several companies – all involved in the money-laundering ring, make ‘personal loans’ to N.P.I. which are later repaid in brick; i.e., chalets on the urbanisación.
As is the standard form where hidden money flows, illegal funds are mixed in with legal ones, so that some of the chalets were bought by normal, honest, members of the public, whilst others belong to straw companies. In fact, eight companies or individuals involved in El Caso Gürtel figure as ‘propetarios y vencions de la Urbanización Los Alminares.’
Finally, we make it very clear that all the above details are as alleged by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and as published in the original articles featured in the Ideal regional newspaper.