Singer wants to avoid jail

Wednesday, 30 May 2012 11:54

Written by Editor

In an interview with the Europa press agency on Monday, singer Isabel Pantoja denied a report published in El Mundo newspaper the same day that she had reached an agreement...

...with the Prosecutor’s Office, by which she will plead guilty to a charge of money laundering to avoid going to jail. Pantoja is accused of laundering money for former Marbella mayor Julian Muñoz when he gave her money to buy an apartment while she was living with him. Muñoz has been in and out of jail and the courts on a variety of corruption charges since the Malaya corruption scandal hit the headlines five years ago. Pantoja met Muñoz when she agreed to take part in an advertising campaign pushing Marbella as a tourist destination.

They started a very public affair which ended while Muñoz was serving a short jail sentence three years ago. News of the deal took Muñoz and his ex-wife Mayte Zaldívar, who is also facing charges in the same case, completely by surprise. Muñoz had said on more than one occasion that Pantoja would never plead guilty to charges which  she has consistently denied. However, the prosecutor had asked for a three-year jail sentence for her, as well as a fine of €3.68 million.

The El Mundo report said she had decided to do a deal because she did not want to leave her ailing mother alone. The newspaper said that under the deal, the prosecutor will now ask for a fine of €1.5 million and only two years in jail, which Pantoja will not have to serve because she has no police record. The case comes to court in Malaga on June 28th.