Another Spanish Property Scandal

Spain, like Dubai, is seeing more and more scandals come to light. The latest in a long string of property scandals in Spain involves the Mayor of the village of Alcaucín in Málaga who is one of 13 people arrested in the latest corruption scandal.

José Manuel Martín Alba has been detained as investigations continue into the building and sale of homes on non-buildable land. Searches were carried out on Friday in the homes of the Mayor and members of his family. The mayor is a staunch socialist (at least in public) and the PSOE Socialist party says they will expel all those indicted from the party. Police found € 160,000 hidden under his mattress, which the Mayor said was his ‘lifetime savings’.

The 13 arrests occurred in Málaga and Huelva and also include the Mayor’s two daughters, and José Mora, chief of municipal architecture in the Dipitación de Málaga, the provincial government; along with two architects and other constructors and alleged intermediaries.

El Mundo says that the investigation could move to neighboring La Viñuela, where the Mayor already faces different investigations on town planning irregularities. Many of the properties have been purchased by foreigners which will only add to the latest calls for outside interference. Perhaps Gordon “no more boom and bust” Brown will come running to the rescue after he gets back from groveling to Barack Obama.

The Regional Councillor for Housing, Juan Espadas, said that the Junta had registered 21 denuncias for real estate irregularities in Alcaucín from individuals, and had challenged 27 building licences granted by the Town Hall. He defended the regional government’s role in the control of real estate planning.

Alcaucín has been under the inspection of local environmental groups for some time. They estimate as many as 20,000 homes have been built illegally on rustic land in the area. Using satellite photos, one group has apparently counted 1,064 new properties built on rural land in the area between 1991 and 2007. Bring on the bulldozers. Maybe that will help keep the remaing houses from falling to much in price.