Countrywide anti-corruption operation leaves 51 top politicians in custody

FIFTY-ONE politicians have been arrested in a massive corruption swoop, including at least six mayors from towns in the Greater Madrid region, the president of León provincial council and a former mayor in Cartagena.

Ex-Secretary General of the PP for the Madrid region, Francisco Granados - who was Esperanza Aguirre's second-in-command when she was regional government president - is one of the most high-profile detainees, and police have carried out stringent investigations in town councils including those of Móstoles, Parla, Collado-Villalba, and Valdemoro where Granados was mayor from 1999 to 2003.

The current mayor of Valdemoro, José Carlos Boza Lechuga; of Parla, José María Fraile; of Collado-Villalba, Agustín Juárez and other Madrid towns have been taken into custody.

Others have been arrested in León - head of the provincial council, or Diputación, Marcos Martínez, and Murcia - former mayor of Cartagena José Antonio Alonso.

Some are said to have been arrested in the Valencia region and investigations have been carried out in the city council and regional goverment, or Generalitat, but names have not been released.

Mayoress of Valencia, Rita Barberá, says she is 'absolutely astonished, wide-eyed in disbelief, and intrigued', as she does not know much about the case since it has been declared sub judice.

"I hope justice takes its course and works with the maximum stringency," she stated, adding that she had 'no idea' where the investigations were carried out in her city as she had only read about them in the news.

Anti-corruption prosecution officials have sent 400 orders to banks to reveal transactions carried out in accounts in the names of the arrested parties, 259 orders for information to the property registry and have carried out 30 embargoes on cars.

Some 250 million euros in the last two years alone are said to have been amassed by the politicians in question in the form of 'illegal commissions', or back-handers for giving lucrative public works contracts to firms they were closely linked to.

According to the anti-corruption prosecution service, the case - which has rocked Spain after hitting the headlines today - is a complex network involving numerous town and provincial councils and regional governments, collaboration between mayors, civil servants, construction and development firm bosses, energy supply and service companies, and a myriad of 'intermediaries' and front companies set up to launder funds.

Tax evasion, power-dealing, misuse of public funds, business dealings in clear conflict of interest with any high-ranking public authority role, fraud, forgery, money-laundering and even 'criminal organisation' have been named among the offences under scrutiny.

The aim was to make each of the individuals involve 'personally rich' from their illegal transactions, not to finance their political parties, says the court.

Those held in custody pending further inquiries are from many political parties - most of those named are on the PP, which is currently in government in Spain and in a large number of its regional Parliaments, but some are also on the socialist party, or PSOE, or independent outfits including the Unión Demócrata Madrileña.

Esperanza Aguirre, former president of the Greater Madrid region whose right-hand man was Francisco Granados, says she is 'stunned' and 'hallucinating in colours' at the arrest of her former colleague.

He is said to have had at least 1.5 million euros in an account in Switzerland, which has since been frozen.