The former planning advisor to Marbella Town Hall is in court again today, in a case brought by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor relating to the licence for the Hotel Guadalpín.
Juan Antonio Roca, considered to be at the centre of the corruption in the town, will arrive in a Civil Guard van from Albolote prison in Granada, where he is being held under the Malaya corruption case. Sources say that Jorge González, chief of the Town Hall’s legal department, has already given evidence as a witness in the Guadalpín case. It was his testimony that led to police investigations in Malaya.

Two former Town Hall employees gave statements in court on Wednesday: one of them is said to have told the judge that González was aware at the time the hotel’s licence was granted of technical reports advising that it could be illegal. The ex Marbella Mayor arrested in Malaya, Julián Muñoz, is also implicated in the case. One of the ex Marbella councillors who, along with Muñoz, is serving one year in prison for the Proinsa case - where a building licence was authorised for a designated green zone - has meanwhile been granted a lower prison category.  It means that María Luis Alcalá will now be able to leave the prison during the day and only have to return there at night.

The Partido Popular has established a policy against the demolition of any of the buildings built illegally in Marbella. The PP candidate for Marbella in the local elections in May, Angeles Muñoz, has said that any decision from the Regional Supreme Court should be postponed until a new Urban Plan is in place for the town. She described the current situation as a complete failure in the town planning policy of the Junta de Andalucía. The regional court TSJA has already called for the demolition of 334 homes in seven different developments in the town, and the sentences in these cases have no further appeal.

Meanwhile the PSOE Socialist candidate for Mayor of Marbella, the Regional Councillor for Tourism, Paulino Plata, has suggested a Council of Citizens be set up in the town to generate ideas. He said the main objective of his plan would be to regenerate the confidence of the local residents in the political process.  Plata was officially presented as Socialist candidate in the town on Tuesday this week.