Planning permission for 238 homes in the area known as Banana Beach was granted by the Municipal Government Commission in 1998 when Jesus Gil was mayor of Marbella, who before his death was accused of planning offences.
For the first time ever, this week the seven former Gil Councillors – two of whom are in the current council in separate groups - have been on the accused bench in court to answer charges connected with planning offences. The former Mayor, Julian Munoz is among the accused.
The public prosecutor’s petition is 18 months in prison and an eighty-year ban on holding public office. A judge ordered building to stop back in 2001 but work resumed following a ruling from the Provincial Court. In April 2004, the Administrative Court at the TSJA ruled that the license to build the three Banana Beach Apartment Blocks was null/invalid.
Nowadays the properties in Banana Beach are occupied/inhabited and some of these properties continue to be sold by real estate companies. There are forty such cases waiting for administrative courts to finish with them before they can be heard in the criminal courts.
Fortunately, the recent decrees issued by the Andalusia High Court (TSJA) and a specific ruling by the Malaga Provincial Court have speeded up the process and will mean that many of the pending aforementioned cases will be heard shortly.
