Laurence Dollimore
A FORMER Manilva mayor has been arrested for her alleged role in helping launder money for an Italian mafia.
Antonia Munoz was cuffed alongside 12 others yesterday following a lengthy investigation by Policia Nacional and Malaga’s Money Laundering Unit.
Officers carried out around 20 raids, seizing cash and mountains of documents which will now be analysed by experts.
Police began their probe after receiving a tip of from the Italian authorities that one of their citizens was running a money laundering operation along the Costa del Sol.
The crime syndicate was believed to be investing huge sums of money into real estate, with a focus on Manilva but also in Estepona and Marbella.
The laundering occurred during Munoz’s time as mayor of Manilva.
The Izquierda Unida politician was the first female councillor in Manilva in 1987 before becoming the first female mayor in 1999.
She left the role between 2003 before being re-elected in 2007.
However she came into trouble in 2013 after being accused of hiring pals and allies of the IU in direct violation of labor laws.
Despite being denounced in court, Munoz stayed on in her role for another year before resigning in 2014.
It came as she was also being investigated for the transfer of Manilva town hall funds to developers El Hacho between 2009 and 2012.
She is also being investigated for illegally hiring some 900 people in the town hall and its companies between 2007 and 2013, as well as paying ‘unjustified’ overtime and bonuses.
