THOUSANDS of Britons who have bought houses in Marbella over the past decade face having their homes demolished after the exposure of a €1 billion property scam run by town planners.

The mayor, councillors, developers, notaries, lawyers and businessmen are among 23 people arrested for their roles in the alleged racket headed by the chief of urban planning, Juan Antonio Roca.

It is estimated that in the past decade 30,000 illegal buildings have been erected in Marbella, of which 4,500 face court decisions as to whether they will be demolished or legalised. Most were bought by Britons who had no idea that they were built illegally. Many of the buildings were constructed too close to the sea, on public parkland or in the increasingly thin green belt.

David Klein, founder of the Costa del Sol Action Group, which campaigns against unregulated financial advisers who have fleeced hundreds of Britons of their savings and pensions, said: “This place is just so full of corruption on every level. Britons come here and get ripped off, with many losing their life savings. This is yet another example and I feel sorry for the people who might lose their homes.”

David Serle, author of You and the Law in Spain, advised those who face having their homes demolished not to lose hope. He said: “These are innocent people who bought homes as a result of illegal building permits. I think they have a very strong case against demolition. Perhaps a few could lose their homes, but I can’t imagine the Spanish spending billions of euros flattening all 4,500 homes.”

Rising demand among Britons for second and retirement homes in Spain has helped to fuel an epidemic of illegal construction on the costas.

Nearly 500,000 Britons live in Spain, 95 per cent of them in coastal areas and 300,000 in the Costa del Sol alone. On average they spend £86,000 to £92,000, although many properties are sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Señor Roca, 53, faces charges of corruption and moneylaundering and is in custody awaiting trial. He is accused of heading a gang which obtained at least €2.4 billion (£1.7 billion) in cash, valuables and property as bribes and backhanders for permitting illegal developments and granting municipal contracts. It is also claimed that he regularly turned down developers’ planning applications, then bought the land himself, changed the rules and built his own developments.

During his 15 years, it is alleged, Señor Roca approved some 600 developments, receiving in return at least 10 per cent of the villas, flats or land involved and ignored any planning restrictions and had the town council change the urban plan whenever necessary.

Now criticism has been levelled at the regional Socialist government in Seville for failing to keep Marbella in check. The Mayor of Seville is also under investigation for alleged corruption involving double accounting.

Other resorts on the costas are also under investigation for property fraud and thousands more homes owned by Britons could face demolition. They include Manilva and Benalmadena on the Costa del Sol and Torrevieja, Orihuela and Elche on the Costa Blanca. “Every Spanish municipality has its wrinkles,” a British consul on the Costa Blanca said.

Police said in the 400-page indictment of the gang, arrested last Wednesday, that Señor Roca used at least 120 different companies to siphon off the money and gifts.

The investigating judge, Miguel Ángel Torres, 35, has become an overnight national hero for tackling what is seen as an endemic problem — the property boom, fuelled mostly by Britons and Northern Europeans, forging corrupt alliances between mayors, councillors and builders. Regional authorities have so far looked the other way — with or without open palms extended backwards. Only recently has the regional government of Andalucía taken any action, although so far without any concrete results. Marbella’s population has increased from 101,144 to 124,333 since 1999.

Judge Torres said after jailing the mayor, Marisol Yagüe, that she was “a simple puppet in the hands of Roca”. Señora Yagüe, a singer from La Línea, near Gibraltar, and her deputy, Isabel García Marcos, both peroxide blondes of a certain age, have enjoyed Marbella’s giddy social life. She is charged, among other things, with receiving four cars from a businessman, now jailed, in return for the right to run the town’s illegal parking tow service.

So far five of the 23 accused have been jailed pending trial and several have been released on bail.

Señor Roca was originally plucked from the dole to head urban planning in Marbella in 1991 by the mayor at the time, Jesús Gil. The two of them set about privatising — for themselves — all Marbella’s municipal services. Señor Gil was evicted from office in 2003 because of various corruption scandals involving him in Marbella and his football club Atlético Madrid. Shortly afterwards he died and Señor Roca took control of the town hall.

SEIZED BY POLICE

A mansion near Marbella with:

• A 300 sq m living room adorned with hunting trophies of big game including giraffes, elephants and rhinoceroses
• A live tiger in a cage
• A football pitch
• A helipad

  and elsewhere ...

• 5kg of jewellery
• 133 thoroughbred horses
• 200 fighting bulls
• A helicopter
• 14 collectors’ vehicles
• 29 firearms
• 340 works of art
• 2 hotels
• 2 small Madrid palaces
• A 1,000-villa development in Murcia
• 1,000 bank accounts

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• What makes the perfect mum?
• To keep me stress-free, no more awareness days, please
• What do lottery winners buy?