8 Feb, 2019 @ 11:29
1 min read
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ROCA’S OUT: Mastermind behind historic Malaya corruption case in Marbella FREED on early release

juan roca
Juan Antonio Roca was behind one of Spain's biggest ever corruption rings
roca la loma
RELEASED: Roca served 12 years of his 20-year sentence

 JUAN Antonio Roca has been released on parole. 

The mastermind behind the infamous Malaya case was let out of prison yesterday after serving 12 years of his 20-year sentence. 

A judge deemed the former Marbella urban planning boss eligible for release as he had completed three quarters of his sentence and had been a model prisoner. 

Most notably he had spent the last year working with a charity which works to reform inmates and helps former ex-convicts find work upon release. 

Roca was convicted of being the ringleader of the Malaya plot, which saw 53 officials across dozens of Andalucian municipalities tried for embezzlement of public funds, breaches of trust, influence peddling and more between 1991 – 2006. 

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juan roca
Juan Antonio Roca was behind one of Spain’s biggest ever corruption rings

Born in Cartagena, Murcia, in 1953, Roca moved to Marbella in 1991 after his property development company Comarsa was declared bankrupt.

But following a meteoric rise, he went from being the late mayor Jesus Gil y Gil’s chauffeur to becoming the councillor for ‘Urban Planning’ for a staggering 11 years from 1992 until 2003.

Roca and his string of accomplices were accused of accepting bribes in exchange for building licences from a string of real estate promoters.

In just four years alone (from 2002 to 2006) a total of 19 agents are said to have paid more than €33 million to Roca and his cohorts.

It is alleged that during his time in office, Roca amassed a fortune worth at least €125 million,  including a string of properties, a huge collection of exotic animals and a private art portfolio that included a Miro that he kept in the loo.

Laurence Dollimore

Laurence Dollimore is a Spanish-speaking, NCTJ-trained journalist with almost a decade’s worth of experience.
The London native has a BA in International Relations from the University of Leeds and and an MA in the same subject from Queen Mary University London.
He earned his gold star diploma in multimedia journalism at the prestigious News Associates in London in 2016, before immediately joining the Olive Press at their offices on the Costa del Sol.
After a five-year stint, Laurence returned to the UK to work as a senior reporter at the Mail Online, where he remained for two years before coming back to the Olive Press as Digital Editor in 2023.
He continues to work for the biggest newspapers in the UK, who hire him to investigate and report on stories in Spain.
These include the Daily Mail, Telegraph, Mail Online, Mail on Sunday and The Sun and Sun Online.
He has broken world exclusives on everything from the Madeleine McCann case to the anti-tourism movement in Tenerife.

GOT A STORY? Contact newsdesk@theolivepress.es or call +34 951 273 575 Twitter: @olivepress

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