Spain’s top judge faces calls to resign over Marbella jaunts

By James Bryce

SPAIN’S top judge is facing calls to resign over allegations he charged €36,000 to his expense account to pay for more than 20 trips to Marbella.

The Chief Justice and head of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), Carlos Divar, is accused of spending up to four days at a time in Puerto Banus between September 2010 and November 2011.

Among the costs alleged to have been incurred on the trips were luxury restaurants and a seven-strong team of bodyguards.

A meeting of the 20 CGPJ members will take place on Thursday to decide Divar’s fate, where 13 votes against him will be enough for him to be sacked.

The meeting was called after the Supreme Court failed to provide a satisfactory answer as to why it had dropped its investigation into Divar’s trips.

“Whatever the prosecutor says, so many trips to Marbella do not have ethic or esthetic justification,” said CGPJ board member Jose Manuel Gomez Benitez.