Notorious former Spain police chief dies

A former Spanish police chief whose name was synonymous with a major corruption scandal in the 1990s has died, the hospital where he was being treated said Thursday.

Luis Roldan, the first civilian to head Spain’s Guardia Civil police force, died at the age of 78 in hospital in the northern city of Zaragoza, a clinic spokeswoman told AFP.

Family members told local media he died of cancer-related complications.

During his term, between 1986 and 1993, the Guardia Civil dealt some harsh blows to the now-defunct Basque separatist movement ETA, the most important of which brought down the armed group’s France-based “leadership” in 1992.

But he is best known for role in one of Spain’s biggest corruption scandals during the Socialist governments of Felipe Gonzalez (1982-96).

The “Roldan affair” hit the headlines in 1993 when a Madrid daily published an expose saying the police chief, who had previously served many years as a Socialist politician, had falsified his degree and owned a vast string of properties.

It would later turn out to be the tip of the iceberg.

Dismissed from his job and summoned to court, Roldan fled Spain in April 1994, sparking a political storm that prompted the resignation of the then interior minister.

Following a 10-month international manhunt, Roldan was finally tracked down and arrested at Bangkok airport.

Back in Spain, he was convicted of a string of offences including embezzlement, fraud and bribery and sentenced to 31 years behind bars. He was also ordered to pay a fine of 1.6 billion pesetas (12 million euros, $14 million).

He got out of jail in 2010 and kept a low profile although his story was turned into a 2016 thriller called “Smoke and Mirrors” which focused on the life of ex-spook Francisco Paesa who helped Roldan flee in 1994.

Although the courts managed to recoup the fine from Roldan’s bank accounts and by auctioning off some of his Spanish properties, the vast majority of his fortune was never found, El Pais daily reported in 2010.

Citing court documents, it said the justice system had not been able to touch the rest of his alleged fortune, valued at an estimated 10 million euros, or seize two properties in Paris and the French West Indies.