Iona Napier
THE controversial case of ticket fraud in Granada’s Alhambra is set to be investigated in court in September 2016.
A scam saw a 50-person gang accused of making €3.5 million from selling tickets to the iconic monument between 2002 and 2005.
The fraudulent behaviour existed within a complex network of tour guides, hoteliers, travel agents and monument employees.
The case should be closed by March 2017 because the sizeable case will involve 30 lawyers and representatives.
As always the lawyers will make lots of money at the expense of the taxpayer – yawn.
Very difficult to understand why it has taken so long to discover and announce the Alhambra ticket sale irregularities. Are there no annual audits? Hopefully through the courts with full discovery the position will be fully revealed and any wrong doing dealt with accordingly. La Alhambra is a UNESCO World Heritage site so the investigations and court case are of International proportions!
Having recently visited the Alhambra and Granada, my impression is that the fraud is ongoing, we were forced to buy a E50 tour as the web site said E15 tickets were sold out. When we arrived there were literally hundreds of people at the ticket office, all on E50 tours waiting while the ticket office printed out the tickets. It seems the only reason tickets arent available is that they are keeping them for the tours and FORCING tourists to pay E50. if 1million people annually do the E50 tour tour on a E15 ticket that a whole LOT of money someone is making. It certainly isnt being re invested into GRanada which is a DUMP