Isabel Pantoja goes to jail
Friday, November 21, 2014 @ 2:36 PM
LEGENDARY flamenco pop singer Isabel Pantoja entered the women’s prison in Alcalá de Guadaíra (Sevilla province) this morning at 08.00hrs to serve a two-year sentence for money-laundering.
One of the most high-profile parties found to be involved in the long-running ‘Malaya Case’, a property development corruption racket involving estates in Marbella (Málaga) and Los Alcázares (Murcia) which came to light in 2007, Isabel Pantoja, known as La Tonadillera based upon her singing style within the flamenco genre, tried to get her sentence suspended recently.
She explained that she had five live concerts to perform at between now and mid-December, and that her fans had already bought their tickets.
In the end, however, she cancelled the concerts and her promoters refunded the money.
The court refused to grant her a stay of grace since, although she met all the criteria which would normally allow this, her custodial sentence was an ‘exemplary’ one – meaning to show her and society what happens when you commit multi-million money-laundering offences, and to discourage Pantoja and anyone else from doing so.
Pantoja arrived at the prison, some 20 kilometres from Sevilla city this morning in a grey Mercedes A-Class, accompanied by her chauffeur and her brother Agustín, all of whom were dressed in black.
Brother and sister were seen going into the reception area to fill in an entrance form, and minutes later, both the men left the building.
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