15 arrested in anti-corruption operation in Valencia

The Spanish Civil Guard arrested at least 15 people on Tuesday as part of an anti-corruption operation against the Peoples Party (PP) in the province of Valencia.

Among those arrested is Alfonso Rus, former mayor of Xativa and former president of the Valencia Provincial Council, and Emilio Llopis, who was Rus's former Cabinet chief, and Maria Jose Alcon, who was the advisor to the former mayor of Valencia, Rita Barbera.

They are accused of forming part of a network which charged commission in return for the awarding of public works contracts and it is thought that some of the money earned that way was used to illegally finance the PP in the Valencia region.

Meanwhile, the Civil Guard are carrying out searches in the office of the Valencia local authority and in several other places.

The case came to light after the publication of hours of recordings, among which Rus could be heard counting money, apparently 500 euro notes. These recordings were later handed to prosecutors by United Left deputy Rosa Perez, causing Rus to be suspended by his party.

Among the objectives of the operation is searching for evidence against the former general manager of the public company, Construcciones e Infrastructuras Educativas Sociadad Anonima (CIEGSA), which was dedicated to the construction of school and college buildings.

The Valencia regional government recently published that CIEGSA had run up costs of over 1.0 billion euros (1.1 billion U.S. dollars) over budget over the last decade. Endit