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15 April 2008
MALAGA – Former Marbella real estate mogul and businessman Juan Antonio Roca left the Albote Penitentiary in Granada province on Monday afternoon after paying EUR 1 million in bail.
He has been serving a preventive prison term for the past two years, and is still under investigation for illegally amassing a fortune believed to be worth more than EUR 2.4 billion.
Judge Oscar Perez, who is presiding over the case, admitted in a statement that there is "a high probability" that Roca may jump bail, although the suspect himself insisted that his family remains in Spain, making that unlikely.
The 53-year-old arrived in Marbella in the mid-1980s and became a close associate of the late Mayor Jesus Gil y Gil. Roca was involved in an extensive corruption network, which included payment of commissions by construction firms in return for contracts.
[El Pais / Juana Viudez / Expatica]