Laurence Dollimore
A CROOKED Costa del Sol mayor has been finally sentenced to eight years in prison.
Ex-leader of Casares Juan Sanchez has been found guilty of taking bribes from eastern European gangsters after a long police investigation.
The former IU chief is joined by architect Rafael Duarte and crime figure Armenian Frank Robert Mani over the Majestic corruption scandal.
He has been found guilty of fraud, money laundering and prevarication over taking at least 282,000 euros to help launder money in an illegal urbanisation promoted by Mani and various gangster partners.
According to the judge of Malaga’s Provincial court Sanchez was ‘guided by the spirit of illegal enrichment’ between 2000 and 2006.
The scheme saw money laundered into the Majestic development via radio and TV stations and the Mijas hippodrome race track.
The Olive Press first probed the links of Casares town hall with Polish mob boss Ricardo Fanchini and his cohorts Mani and Robert Gaspar in building on non-development land near the coast, nearly a decade ago.
We revealed how the group were laundering money via a series of pop concerts, including Jamiroquai and UB40, and were linked to REM radio station, which later changed its name to Talk Radio Europe.
Fanchini, who was described as the ‘CEO of organised crime in Europe’ by the BBC, is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for racketeering in the US.
Eight other town hall workers who were facing prison have been acquitted after claiming they were unaware of the illegality of the documents they signed.
Architect Duarte has been fined €18,000.
is Robert Gaspar also a wanted now?