OLIVE PRESS
The
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Your expat
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Vol. 2 Issue 30 www.theolivepress.es December 23rd - January 13th 2021
...and in your Olive Press stocking this year don’t miss: Stunning, but was it worth €1.2 billion?
The Spanish chefs with new ‘green’ stars
See page 3
Festive check before the revelry begins
See page 18
See page 22
Russian mob exposed Mafia corruption probe ends in dozens of arrests of police and politicians in Valencia
END OF A RUFF YEAR: Visitor and pet at Valencia city tree
p shi ts We resenbring p r st youou. Julist!! r y for you
CORRUPT cops and politicians are among two dozen arrested in a major operation against the Russian mafia in Valencia. Several police officers and two local Partido Popular (PP) politicians were among the 23 cuffed in what has been described as the biggest sting against the Russian mob ‘for a decade’. Operation Testudo focused on the money laundering gang that mostly worked in the Marina Baixa area. A series of 18 raids led to arrests in Valencia City, Altea and Finestrat, while gang members were also rounded up in Alicante, Ibiza and Madrid. The investigation was launched in 2013, along-
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side Europol, after a tip off that a series of shady Russian businessmen were influencing politicians to land lucrative real estate deals. The gang is said to have created shell-companies as a front for laundering money out of Spain to be used for international crimes include murder, drug-trafficking, human-trafficking, and extortion. Among those arrested were PP councillor for Benidorm, Lorenzo Martinez, and former PP president in Altea, Jaime Selles. They have been charged with ‘peddling influence’ alongside an Altea council official who was also detained. Alarmingly, two Guardia Civil officers and a Policia National detective were also arrested in the raids. The operation appears to have been run by a Russian solicitor, who masquerades as an Altea real estate agent. The 38-year-old was said to have ‘extensive local contacts’ and was seeking to build a luxury motor-
home park in the area. A Ukrainian IT expert, based in the San Juan area of Alicante, was also visited in the police raids. The so-called ‘hacker’ was previously arrested in 2018 for being the mastermind behind a gang of cyber thieves who stole over one billion US dollars from banks around the world. “The organisation planned to control key sectors of the Spanish economy and infiltrate state institutions, counting on lawyers, officials, politicians, businessmen and hackers,” said a police spokesman.
Luxury
“Profits from these criminal activities were invested in Spain in various businesses, mainly in leisure, hospitality and the real estate sector,” he added. He added the ‘main purpose’ of the criminal organisation was to ‘take over the nightlife and catering sector’, both on Spain’s eastern coast and in the Balearic Islands. The house raids netted 16 luxury cars, €300,000 in cash, virtual wallets with crypto currencies, diamonds, and an array of firearms. Numerous bank accounts and property See page 24 assets worth millions of euros have also been blocked.
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Opinion Page 6
Festive plans wrecked
THOUSANDS of expats have had their Christmas plans ruined as Spain closed its borders to tourists from the UK. Spanish officials had called for an EU-wide response to the news that a virulent new strain – said to be 70% more contagious – was spreading through the South East of England. Spain has now decided to follow the lead of other European countries in restricting travel from the UK. The good news is that Spanish citizens and residents of the country will still be allowed to visit. It does not, however, help those expats who were gearing up for a visit from relatives. It comes as Gibraltar confirmed that it is the fifth country outside the UK to identify a case of the new mutated virus. Over a dozen countries - including Germany, France, Sweden and Denmark - have suspended flights from the UK.