Dozens convicted in Marbella corruption scandal Published duration 4 October 2013

image caption Former mayor of Marbella Marisol Yague was sentenced to six years

Some 50 people have been convicted in a major corruption case centred on the Spanish resort of Marbella.

The case, involving bribery, property fraud and money laundering, resulted in convictions for senior officials.

These included former city planning chief Juan Antonio Roca, who was jailed for 11 years and fined 240m euros (£202m, $300m) for pocketing huge sums.

Two of the coastal city's former mayors were also handed jail terms over the scams, which came to light in 2006.

Marisol Yague and Julian Munoz received sentences of six and two years, respectively.

A total of 85 men and women were accused in what is thought to be the biggest-ever case of local political corruption in Spanish history.

Roca, who managed the city's planning department in the 1990s, became one of Spain's richest men before he was accused of masterminding the corruption.

He was initially given the job at the peak of Marbella's construction boom by the city's notorious, late mayor, Jesus Gil, who died in 2004.

The verdict read out in court in the province of Malaga detailed a corruption ring involving building permits being handed out to a succession of officials in return for envelopes stuffed with cash.

Roca himself became extremely rich, with a portfolio of ranches, expensive cars and boats.

The sentences for Roca and the two disgraced mayors were significantly less than those demanded by prosecutors.

They had sought a 30-year term for Roca, who was detained in 2006, but the court took into account his admission of the scale of corruption.