Spain: The Spanish judge investigating a massive money laundering operation on the Costa del Sol yesterday jailed seven suspects and continued interrogating 40 others detained over the weekend.
Fernando del Valle, a Chilean-born lawyer whose law firm DVA is at the centre of the investigations, is being held incommunicado in the courthouse cells for further questioning. Mr del Valle (57) opened his first office in Marbella in 1979 and has since opened offices in nearby San Pedro de Alcantara and in Alicante.
Most of DVA's clients are foreigners investing in property development and construction. It is believed that many of them acquired their money through drugs, arms dealing and other illegal business deals and took advantage of the virtually uncontrolled property boom on the Costa to launder funds, frequently using offshore companies in Gibraltar to cover their tracks.
Mr del Valle's name appears as director of more than 20 real estate and construction companies along the coast where he is said to have enjoyed a "spectacular" lifestyle. The names of his staff, including telephone operators, appear as directors of companies he set up for clients.
Police forces from seven countries - France, Holland, the UK, Russia, the US, Canada and Germany - are now involved in the case in which as much as €500 million is believed to have been laundered through this network of phantom companies.
Police say there is particular interest in the Russian connection because they suspect that money from the Russian oil company Yukos was channelled through Mr del Valle's offices.
The seven people jailed yesterday - five men and two women - have not been named, although they are believed to include a Finnish magazine publisher and Russian, Ukrainian, Dutch, and Tunisian citizens. They will be held for up to five days in the admissions wing of Malaga prison for medical and psychological examinations before being admitted to the main prison.
In addition to the half-dozen interpreters assisting Judge Miguel Angel Torres in his inquiries are a team of computer experts from the police technological crime unit in Madrid. They are working to decipher 32 hard disks taken from DVA offices. Yesterday police confiscated safe deposit boxes from banks in Marbella and San Pedro de Alcantara.
The state attorney general, Candido Conde-Pumpido, said yesterday that what had emerged so far was "probably only the tip of the iceberg which confirms our fears of the silent invasion of mafia gangs".
Marbella became a favourite place to invest in property without too many questions being asked during the epoch of its colourful mayor and president of Atletico de Madrid football club, the late Jésus Gil. It soon became notorious for uncontrolled development, a place where zoning laws were ignored provided enough money was available to pay for licences.