The
OLIVE PRESS
COSTA BLANCA SUR / MURCIA
FREE
Vol. 1 Issue 2 www.theolivepress.es
Your expat
voice in Spain
November 21st - December 4th, 2019
JAILED: Grinan and Chaves finally face crimes
Justice at last
IT is the biggest public money scandal in Spanish history, estimated at nearly €1 billion. Now, finally, two former Andalucia leaders are heading to prison and banned from office for their links to the disgraceful ERE scandal. Ex-Junta president Jose Antonio Grinan has been sentenced to six years jail and banned from office for 15 years, while predecessor Manuel Chaves has been banned from office for nine years. The pair oversaw the scheme, which saw the shocking theft of at least €680 million - dubbed the ‘Reptile fund’ - meant to go to companies in trouble and to stimulate employment. A further 17 politicians and businessmen who worked with the Junta received a total of 86 years in prison between them, a Sevilla court has ruled.
Bent
This included eight years for former Employment minister Javier Guerrero, who helped set up the scheme which embezzled money from 2000 to 2009. The bent politician was particularly guilty, having set up two bogus companies with his former driver - dubbed the ‘Cocaine Chauffeur’ - defrauding over €700,000 between them. The pair are said to have spent much of their afternoons spending the money taking cocaine with prostitutes at brothels near Sevilla. The final 1,700-page report, issued by a panel of judges, announced that 13 of those accused received six to eight years in prison while all have been banned from public office for at least 10 years. A further three, José Antonio Viera, Francisco Vallejo and Carmen Martínez-Aguayo were also ministers. In a major embarrassment for the PSOE party, Chaves and Grinan led the Junta for a combined 23 years, two thirds of the regional parliament’s history. The pair had been icons of the party, while Chaves went on to become a minister in both the SpanContinues on Page 3
How a Cartagena naval officer’s ‘land of submarines’ made waves around the world see pages 12-13
IT’S ON after years of complaints about perceived under-spending, Rojales Town Hall promises €600,000 will be spent in Quesada EXCLUSIVE By Simon Wade
TOWN hall bosses have promised the Olive Press that works to clean up Ciudad Quesada will begin in the new year. Finance councillor, Fernando Lorenzo, admitted much work needed to be done and blamed the delay on the serious flooding this autumn. But he promised the instructure improvements would begin on January 7. In total, €600,000 will be spent on resurfacing the roads, widening pavements as well as improving parking and lighting. “It will be the perfect welcome to Quesada,” he told the Olive Press this week. The move comes after years of claimed neglect by locals, who complained of bad lighting, poor pavements and a lack of events and entertainment. This week an Olive Press investigation also found problems with overflowing bins and neglected play parks, as well as serious issues with parking. However the town hall insists that much of this could be down to the huge number of expats who have failed to register on the Padron.
Three Kings clean up NEGLECT: Overflowing bins in Quesada It believes around 19,000 foreign- Lorenzo continued. ers are NOT officially registered “We could have more of everyand this leads to considerably less thing.” national funding. “Imagine the funding we would You Register, we Spend, See inveshave to spend if they all registered,” tigation on page 4
FIRST DATES: Take a trip to Elche’s UNESCO World Heritage site See pages 18-19