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ANTI-CORRUPTION SQUAD INVESTIGATE TRAMPOLIN HILLS
Staff Reporter / 2010-01-05 15:00:47
Anti-corruption prosecutors have been called in to investigate whether a real estate developer and the mayor of Murcia town, Campos del Río, may have duped around 2,000 would-be homebuyers out of a total of between 50 and 80 million Euros.
The investors, some from Ireland, Britain and Norway, handed over down payments of between 30,000 and 60,000 Euros to constructors Trampolín Hills, and were assured that they were buying a spacious home near the town of Campos del Río.
But now, the land where there should already be 125-square meter homes boasts only a dirt road and several dried-up palm trees. Nearby sits old heavy equipment and an abandoned real estate office.
The man behind the dream homes in Trampolín Hills is Antonio Martínez, who started out selling fruit at a market stall before becoming a building tycoon. He blames the Socialist mayor of Campos de Río, Miguel Navarro Romero and says, “The only thing that I ask for is that they let me build,”. However, since November his company has been bankrupt.
But now anti-corruption prosecutors are investigating Martínez and his relationship with the mayor. Although Martínez hasn’t disappeared from the area, he has kept a low profile since the scandal emerged. “We have been caught in the middle of a fight between the Popular Party and the Socialists, and the development has fallen victim to this battle. It had initial approval and a signed land deed, so technically there isn’t any reason to halt it.” He claims.
But by May 2008, the development was already two years behind schedule, because the city hall never completed the necessary land-permit process. At the beginning of last year, the council voted to approve the plan, but Mayor Navarro Romero, who worked as a land broker, couldn’t vote because he had business dealings with Trampolín Hills. Apparently, one Socialist councillor also abstained for the same reason and without those two decisive votes; the approval for development was shelved.
The PP claimed that Navarro had participated “in some buying and selling of land” where the construction was to take place. Compounding the issue, a court in Mula issued an injunction against the construction company for trying to build on land without obtaining the necessary permits.
355 people who invested money into Trampolín Hills have filed against the builder according to one lawyer and all of the 2,000 homes have been sold and their owners have become plaintiffs in what is set to become a long-running case.
Tags: Trampolin Hills, Murcia, Spain
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