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Former Marbella mayor, Julián Muñoz, his ex-wife, Maite Zaldívar, and ex-girlfriend, Isabel Pantoja, face money laundering charges
29.06.12 - 12:32 -
The seven accused including Isabel Pantoja (third from l), Julián Muñoz ( far r) and Maite Zaldívar, in pink. / Sur
Isabel Pantoja’s solicitor, José Ángel Galán opened proceedings in court in Malaga yesterday by demanding that the case be thrown out. His client, he said, had been subjected to “degrading” treatment during the investigation, which in the absence of any “indications or suspicions” was groundless.
Galán claimed that Isabel Pantoja’s bank accounts and those of her son, her business interests and others connected with her had all been investigated before anyone had had any hearing. The only accusation against her, he went on, came from two police reports about her assets and bank accounts, which led to her detention. “Her arrest was agreed in advance and announced on public television, the same day that the former Prime Minister was visiting Malaga”, he said, and this led to “continued exposure to the media”. She underwent further degrading treatment, he said, “the night she spent in a cell, and when she was taken to the court in Marbella, where she arrived in a terrible state, not knowing where she was”.
Julián Muñoz’s defence then asked for the trial to be suspended until the conclusion of the on-going Malaya case as the former arises from the latter and important issues have yet to be resolved. One of these is the alleged phone tapping which the defence is claiming vulnerates his client’s basic rights. The other lawyers for the defence all supported this request.
The trial, which started at 10 a.m., saw the seven accused sitting on the same bench, although the three who are of greatest interest to the media, the erstwhile love triangle formed by Julián Muñoz, Isabel Pantoja and Maite Zaldívar, did not have to sit side by side. Neither did they look at each other at any point. Isabel Pantoja stared straight at the court bench opposite, while her former lover made notes about the proceedings on a tablet.
