Russian mafia laundered over 200 million euros in cash on the Costa

It may not have had the front page coverage and the media interest that the ‘Malaya case’ had, but the ‘Majestic’ case is on the way to becoming the biggest operation against money laundering in Spain and one of the most important in Europe. After the detention of the former mayor of Casares, Juan Sánchez, three years ago, detectives have been determined to unravel the spider’s web which had been created by the Russian mafia to launder black money on the Costa del Sol.

The figures, which have now been revealed for the first time, give an idea of the immense size of the operation. Guardia Civil and National Police officers have detected that the money laundering network of the Kremliovskaya, a Russian mafia organisation, has moved more than 200 million euros in cash which originated on or was destined for the Costa del Sol.

This figure comes from an exhaustive financial study of the network of companies used to launder the money. Sources say that the group used 25 companies in different sectors, including property, sports, private security and the media.

Through these companies, the organisation managed about 100 bank accounts through which the ‘black’ money passed. The clues from this flow of cash led officers to a network with branches in Belgium, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Italy, the UK, Poland, Switzerland, France and the USA. Unsurprisingly, the experts at Eurojust – an organisation which oversees judicial cooperation between member states of the EU – consider ‘Majestic’ the most important Spanish operation within the European justice system.