Spanish singer ordered to begin prison term
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E-mail Xinhua, November 5, 2014
The Court in the Spanish city of Malaga on Monday ordered popular singer Isabel Pantoja to immediately begin a two-year prison sentence, which had previously been imposed on her for money laundering.
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Spanish singer Isabel Pantoja [Photo/Sina.com] |
The 58-year-old, who has released around 30 LP's of Spanish music and who has been a fixture on Spanish television and in gossip magazines for almost 40 years, was condemned to two years in prison in April 2013 for her role in the corruption case known as 'Operation Malaya.'
The case involved her former boyfriend, Julian Munoz, the ex-Mayor of the town of Marbella, who is currently serving a sentence for corruption, as is his former wife and their lawyer, Jose Maria del Nido, the former president of Sevilla Football Club.
Pantoja was convicted of money laundering, but had tried to delay the date she was due to enter prison, something the Spanish Anti-Corruption office had objected to, explaining on Monday that the singer known colloquially as 'La Pantoja' had "introduced money into the market that Munoz had obtained illicitly."
She also "placed at Julian Munoz's service the societies of her property, through which she also put the money she earned professionally, this adding to the confusion and difficulty of detecting the operations."
The anti-corruption office added that Pantoja had not cooperated in the investigation, had offered 'alternative explanations' for the source of the money, and that her illegal activities had continued for over two years, while "neither during nor after the trial, did she show one moment of acknowledging her guilt or of showing repentance."
Pantoja has three days to appeal, but given the appeal will be studied by the same court which has now ordered her to start her sentence, her chances of avoiding prison look slim.
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