In today’s corruption scandal, six mayors and the former secretary general of the PP in Madrid are among 51 people arrested for taking kickbacks in exchange for granting construction contracts.
The detainees are alleged to have approved contracts valued at €250 million in the last two years alone, receiving compensation for their cooperation.
The PP mayors who have been detained are José Carlos Boza Lechuga (Valdemoro), Agustín Juárez (Collado Villalba), Gonzalo Cubas Navarro (Torrejón de Velasco) and David Rodríguez Sanz (Casarrubuelos).
The Socialist Mayor of Parla, José María Fraile, and the UDMA ruler of Serranillos del Valle, Antonio Sánchez Fernández del Valla, have also been arrested.
Other notable detainees are the former secretary general of the PP in Madrid, Francisco Granados, the president of León Council, Marcos Martínez and businessmen David Marjaliza and Alejandro de Pedro Llorca.
The investigation, codenamed Operation Púnica, reportedly began in December 2013 when a Swiss banking commission advised the Anti-corruption Prosecutor about two accounts held in Switzerland by Granados and Marjaliza which were suspected of being used for the purpose of money laundering.