The Olive Press January 2009 | Page 8

14 news the olive press - Eastern Edition - Issue 62 the olive press - Eastern Edition - Issue 62 15

INVOLVED ? Julian Muñoz and Marisol Yague in happier times

sociates , has been charged with money laundering in the case .

Garcia and Aifos Chairman Jesus Ruiz Casado , who have both been indicted for bribery , declined to comment . Benitez , who has not been charged with any wrongdoing , was laid off by Aifos in October as the company battled to stave off bankruptcy after banks cut their lines of credit to the firm following the bribery scandal . Last week , a Málaga court accepted a demand from the company ’ s creditors over an unpaid 8 million-euro bill .

As Roca amassed bribes , he began to acquire the trappings of wealth for himself and his wife , Maria Rosa Jimeno Jimenez , and their two children and various friends . Roca ’ s wife was charged with money laundering .

According to prosecutor Torres , Roca said his fortune was worth about 120 million euros and included enormous estates in Cadiz , Ibiza , Madrid , Mallorca and Sevilla as well as various palaces in the capital that he intended to restore and sell as hotels . He also owned an art collection worth tens of millions of euros , including the Miro and works by Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali .

Probe begins

Roca ’ s lavish lifestyle drew the attention of investigators including Torres and Oscar Perez , who took over the case from Torres in November 2007 . They began probing Roca ’ s business connections , particularly his possible links to money launderers .

In one deal , Roca allegedly took a 540,000 euro payment from the Mafia based in Calabria , Italy , while he allegedly did “ accounting work ” for a drug trafficker identified as Davila .

While the investigators closed in , Roca faced additional threats . His Marbella office was broken into and he received an anonymous letter that included a photo collage of his family with all of their heads chopped off , according to testimony from Roca ’ s bodyguard , Jaime Hachuel .

By 2005 , rumours were circulating in Marbella that the Russian mafia was menacing the city planning administrator , Hachuel told investigators .

“ When the mafia saw the net closing in on Roca , their closest collaborator , the threats began ,” says Romero , the former Junta lawmaker . “ If Roca were to sing , that would spell big trouble for them .”

Hachuel , 43 , a former member of the Spanish royal guard , spent 32,000 euros on eight encrypted mobile phones to prevent Roca ’ s calls to his colleagues from being tapped . The security guard was trying to procure equipment to detect bugging devices when police taped a January 26 , 2006 , meeting between Roca and Marbella businessman Ismael Perez Pena in Madrid ’ s Villa Magna hotel .

At the meeting , Roca promised to boost the fees the town paid for the cars it leased from Pena ’ s company . Roca also signed over to Pena two beachside apartments owned by the city as a repayment for money owed to his company by city hall .

In return , Roca wanted a favour – help repaying another debt to an unnamed party , according to a police transcript of the meeting .

“ You remember I told you I had to pay 3 million ,” Roca said . “ What can you give me of that ?”

“ In Box A , nothing ; In Box B , as much as you want ,” Pena told him , using Spanish slang for legal and illegal payments . “ I can give you 1.8 million in Box B tomorrow .”

Four days later , police stopped a black Audi A6 sedan leaving the Pena office in Getafe , near Madrid , and found 2 million euros in cash inside two cardboard files wrapped in packing tape .

The men inside the car were all Roca associates . Pena was charged with bribery and fraud . Neither Pena nor his lawyer could be reached for comment .

On March 29 , 2006 , police arrested Roca on charges of embezzlement , money laundering and bribery . That trial will begin sometime this year .

A verdict in his separate trial for embezzling 36 million euros from the city has recently been reached . Found guilty , Roca will serve six years and ten months behind bars .

Parts of this were first published in the February issue of Bloomberg Markets

Additional reporting by Mark Roulston

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The second coming

DAVID WYN explains how new technology has allowed the recreation of a village ’ s lost heritage

ONE of Almería ’ s lost treasures is to return home – sort of .

An ornamental patio that once formed the centerpiece of the castle at Vélez Blanco is to be recreated in its entirety thanks to a painstaking 3D scan that has been made of the original , which currently resides at New York ’ s Metropolitan Museum .

Junta de Andalucía culture minister Rosa Torres said the restoration of the patio would rectify “ one of the most shameful incidents in Almería ’ s history .”

The story of how several tonnes of Andalusian ornamental patio , complete with lintels , balustrades , cornices , gargoyles and decorative windows , managed to end up in a North American museum is an interesting one .

In 1904 , the dukes of Medina Sidonia , who at that time were owners of the castle , decided to sell off what was left of the furniture and decoration . Although most of these items represented irreplaceable examples of Andalusian craft dating back several centuries , everything was sold to the highest bidder . The jewel in the castle ’ s crown was an ornamental patio made from marble from the nearby village of Macael and decorated with intricate reliefs .

This was sold , among other things , to a French art dealer for 80,000 pesetas . The Frenchman made a very good investment ; historians estimate that with the sale of a single door he made back his initial outlay .

The patio was broken down into 2,000 separate pieces and transported by mule from Vélez Blanco to the port of Cartagena – no mean feat when you take into consideration the patio measures 17x12x9 metres . From there it was moved on to the merchant ’ s home in Marseille .

The patio was sold again in 1913 to an

American , George Blumenthal , who took it to his home in New York . When Mr Blumethal died in 1954 he bequeathed the patio to the New York Metropolitan Museum where it remains to this day .

The Vélez Blanco castle was purchased by the Junta in 2005 for three million euros and one of their first decisions was to restore the patio to its former glory . As the Metropolitan Museum showed no signs of wanting to sell the original , it was decided a recreation would have to be made . After all , the raw material , white marble from the quarries in Macael , is still in plentiful supply .

To allow a recreation to be made , a detailed 3D scan of the original was first necessary . Alejandro Arjona is director of the company that made the digital scan and he explained the difficulties of the project . He said : “ More conventional forms of digital scans were not available to us as white light scans involve spraying the surface with powder and laser scans involve placing stickers , neither of which the museum would allow us to do .”

Señor Arjona said they used a system which employed a digital tracker with three fixed cameras to give a 3D image and did not involve touching the surface at all . He said the work took five weeks , working 12 hours a day under the strict vigilance of security guards from the museum .

With the three dimensional image now in the bag , the Junta is currently trying to locate the requisite craftspeople needed to recreate the patio ’ s intricate carvings and decorations .

Señora Torres said : “ The patio is the heart of the castle and its sale was shameful . This recreation will help return the castle to those it really belongs to – the people of Almería .”

Police uncover Dali haul

see page 18

ORIGINAL : Visitors marvel at the Velez ( below ) patio during a trip to the Metropolitan Museum in New York