Not new, but.....

I don't seem to be able to start a new thread any other way except through here, though strictly speaking, I''m not new.  Anyway, I wanted to ask the following question:

I've been practising Spanish by listening to the news frequently for the last few months.  There seems to be a lot of fraud and several names have been linked to it eg. Pujol, Undungarin,Blesa, Ojeda, NOOS, etc.  Several people have gone to prison.  Several different organisations have been involved.

 What set it all off?  Here in the UK, a whistle-blower informed a newspaper about the expenses scandal, but these cases seem to be all over Spain.  What sparked it all off?

Well what sparked it all of was that the councils went bankrupt with the crisis and everyone wanted to know where the money had gone! In the case of Pujol his son's ex-girlfriend went to the police and told them what she had seen while living with them.... basically it all got so big that it was impossible to hide anymore. These aren't an expenses scandals. These people didn't just steal thousands or millions, they stole billions before gettign caught! The Pujol family has 500 million stashed away in just one of their bank accounts in Andorra. They have accounts all around the world plus a property portfolio which is endless. This is similar to the Marbella case. Really unbelievable.

The place the thread in the correct forum click on the green  "new thread " button at the top of the page, then select the forum from the drop down menu on the right hand side.

Thanks for that reply.  Wow!  That's even worse than any of the scandals here in the UK.  Fact is sometimes worse than fiction.

It's been going on for donkey's years here in Spain. Politics and public office is steeped in corruption and theft of public money. I couldn't count the Mayors from different towns that have been convicted of fraud, the councils who have milked the system and the politicians who are all corrupt and have been for many years. 2010 saw the Marbella 'scandal' where two Mayors (Munoz and Yague) were part of a massive fraud organised by Juan Antonio Rocca (J.R. to his mates) and Jesus Gill. The admitted accepting E670 million, but discoveries were still being made 3 years later - so nobody knows the true sum involved. 

We were involved in a developemnt project nr Marbella when the Mayor was arrested and every single project in the town was stopped by the courts and not a brick was laid for 3 years in that town - many went bust and many just walked away. We had to go to court in Malaga to prove the money trail and show where the money came from and to whom it was paid - this took years and although we were cleared and told we could continue, the recession had taken hold, our funders had backed out of the deal, so we had to mothball it, and it is still as it was. The Mayor? he got 6 months and was re-elected as Mayor and has been arrested twice since! In 1992 Rocca came off the dole to work in the town hall and 15 years later, as Gill's right hand man was worth 35m euros.

I'm amazed at what I'm reading!  It makes everything here in the UK souind like peanuts - wer'e complaining because some politicians have fiddled a few thousand  and claimed for a packet of biscuits!  And strictly speaking, the bankers didn't do anything illegal, just merely "poor business decisions".   How could it have gone on for so long?

Always been the same but at least corruption is being exposed to the public now. I think it got worse when Spain started to get billions bunged at it from the European Union...councils were awash with money and even some of the Royal Family managed to get their hands on some of it although a few seem to have escaped exposure.