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Date Published: 30/09/2022

ARCHIVED - 18 Russian mobsters walk free in Benidorm and Ibiza due to court oversight

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

A court in Benidorm failed to extend the deadline for investigations into alleged money laundering by the 'Russian mafia' and the case was shelved

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - 18 Russian mobsters walk free in Benidorm and Ibiza due to court oversight

A serious judicial error in bringing down one of the largest Russian mafia operations in a decade has led to the acquittal of 18 gang members suspected of money laundering in the Marina Baixa region of Alicante province and Ibiza in the Balearic Islands.

A Benidorm court failed to extend the investigation deadline and the Audiencia annulled the summons for those involved to testify as it was out of time.

The head magistrate subsequently issued an order to dismiss and close the proceedings for the 18 suspected mobsters investigated in the case, including two Russians who were never arrested and are considered by the police to be two of the main people involved as they allegedly had close links with Russian organised crime and channelled the money to Spain for laundering.

The case has also been closed for a Guardia Civil officer stationed in Benidorm, a lawyer from Valencia, a well-known Russian restaurateur who owns numerous restaurants and the parents of a Russian lawyer based in Altea who was arrested at the end of 2020 and is still under investigation in the case.

Back in February, a judge also ordered the provisional dismissal of proceedings against the Councillor of Security of Benidorm, Lorenzo Martínez Sola, and a few days later for four more investigated, amongst them the ex-chief of the Guardia Civil in Altea and an ex-councillor in the same town, Jaime Sellés.

Also of interest: Brit wanted in the UK for drug trafficking is arrested in Benidorm

The judge considered that there was "no evidence of the crimes for which they were being investigated", such as influence peddling.

However, in this latest order, the case was annulled because the 18 defendants were summoned to give statements outside the time limits of the investigation and several of the defendants' defence lawyers appealed the decision before Benidorm Court, which in mid-September issued an order upholding the appeals and dismissed the summons.

The judge stated that "after the decision of the Audiencia and in accordance with the Law of Criminal Procedure, it is appropriate to agree the free dismissal and the archiving of the proceedings, as well as the lifting of the precautionary measures imposed and the return of the effects seized by the police to these investigated persons".

Several companies and another 14 people remain under investigation, including a police inspector who has a separate case and is being processed independently from the Russian criminal organisation. Of the remaining 13 people, some of them have not even been summoned to testify in court yet, and its presumed they too will be dismissed.

The police operation that led to the court proceedings was carried out in December 2020. Twenty-three people were arrested in Altea, Benidorm, Ibiza, Finestrat, Alicante, Madrid, Tarragona and Valencia for their alleged involvement in a Russian mafia money laundering network that sought to infiltrate businesses and institutions.

Now read: Three French holidaymakers in custody over gang-rape of teen tourist in Torrevieja

Image: Policia Nacional

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