Ronda is the latest addition to the list of towns mixed up in planning-related corruption. But how was the situation allowed to go this far?

Sur in English | Reportaje

The new millennium came hand in hand with economic cheer and construction became an easy source of income for municipal coffers. The temptation of personally pocketing some of this new-found wealth has resulted in huge scandals, with Marbella as the finest example, and mayors, former mayors and councillors ending up behind bars.

Other council leaders in the province of Malaga, of all political colours, were too lenient in their application of planning laws and, without actually putting their fingers in the till, contributed actively or passively to the proliferation of illegal properties in rural areas. Here the prime example is the Axarquía where there has been a considerable change to the landscape and to environmental resources that the Junta de Andalucía is now planning to rectify.

However no district in the province of Malaga has been spared. They all have at least one mayor charged with or convicted of planning offences.

The ‘Malaya’ case is well under way and promises to continue for some time, but behind it comes a long list of smaller cases with crimes ranging from corruption and embezzlement to planning offences, that is, allowing illegal construction to take place.

Last week saw the arrest of the former mayor of Ronda, Antonio Marín Lara, and three councillors who have eventually handed in their notice. As with Marbella, rumours of municipal corruption had been flying around the town long before the police moved in.

Who’s to blame

So how did the situation get this far? Did the controls fail? Did the powers that be turn a blind eye? There were definitely systems established to regulate municipal planning. The Junta de Andalucía, the Diputación (provincial authority), political parties, state security forces, public prosecutors, judges... all form part of the social mechanism that only addressed the problem when the disease had become widespread. That was when the alarm bells started to ring.

“Not only have the political parties’ controls failed but also those of the administration. In the golden age of planning, the Junta de Andalucía reaped in the taxes and imposed no restrictions. And the town halls made money and lived above their means. They were dazzled by the golden fleece of town planning”, criticises the provincial coordinator of Izquierda Unida, José Antonio Castro.

The provincial president of the PP, Elías Bendodo, states that “there has been a lack of strategic planning. Everyone has been allowed to do what they wanted and this has had negative consequences, with chaotic development and the Junta de Andalucía turning a blind eye”.

Meanwhile the Junta de Andalucía, bearing the brunt of all the political criticism, passes the blame back to the town halls. The provincial delegate for Public Works, Enrique Benítez, says: “We enforce the planning law but it must be said that it is the town hall’s responsibility to control planning discipline”. He also points out that the Inspection Department was created in 2005 and this “has adequate human resources, and has an open line of communication with the Public Prosecutor, drawing up reports at his request”.

Neither is the Public Prosecution_Department blame-free, as it is criticised for being too slow to react. Nevertheless the chief prosecutor, Antonio Morales, states that “corruption has incredibly been supported by citizens with their vote, and the results are there to be seen”. He did admit that “self-criticism is never a bad thing because things could always be done better”.

Judges and courts

The judicial system has been criticised, but also applauded for its significant operations, such as the ‘Malaya’ case initiated by the Judge Miguel Ángel Torres. The courts have also been accused of acting too late. In their defence they point out that “Judges can only act on a report from the police or the Guardia Civil or a lawsuit filed by an individual. And that is what they have done. I think that society in general was too slow in reacting”, says the head of the provincial court for nine years, Francisco Arroyo Fiestas.

The growing chaos of illegal buildings prompted the Guardia Civil’s nature protection unit,_Seprona, to take action in 2009. Officers combed the countryside in search of illegal properties, village by village, in alphabetical order. Not one district was saved.

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