International fraudster arrested in Marbella

A DUTCH CITIZEN has been detained in Marbella after amassing “a fortune” gained from fraudulent business activities over a twenty-year period.  

Operation Davy Jones was a joint operation by Malaga´s Guardia Civil and the Agencia Tributaria, Spain´s tax inspection agency, and started in 2013 after authorities found evidence of tax evasion. 

The accused, a resident of Spain, is reported to have been listed as having a ´delocalized tax´ status and is alleged to have used multiple identities of different nationalities in order to outwit Spanish inspectors. He was operating behind a legitimate online company which sold spectacles, from a base in the town of San Pedro de Alcantara.  

After two years of intense investigations, officers unravelled the elaborate set up, which is thought to have profited from business interests and bank accounts registered in Gibraltar. A dozen bank accounts have since been blocked and connected assets seized, including residential real estate along the Costa del Sol coast and several luxury vehicles. 

Until his arrest on January 22, the man is said to have maintained a respectable front from his mansion in an exclusive development in Benahavis, while failing to disclose his real income to the Spanish Treasury.