Murder of banker’s widow in Alicante points to contract killing
Police rule out robbery as motive in shooting of 72-year-old former wife of leading local businessman
Spanish police investigating the murder on Friday in Alicante of the widow of the former president of a failed regional savings bank say they have ruled out robbery as a motive. María del Carmen Martínez, the 72-year-old widow of Vicente Sala, a leading businessman in the eastern coastal city who died in 2011, was shot twice in the head at close range. Her body was found around 7pm at a car showroom owned by her family where she had gone to pick up a Porsche Cayenne.
Police say the victim was carrying a large amount of cash and wearing jewelry and would not have been able to offer resistance. They add that the style of the shooting suggested a professional killer was responsible. Sources close to the investigation say for the moment the police are focusing their inquiries on members of the victim’s family. “This was somebody who knew where and how to shoot,” said an unnamed source. Police are reportedly looking into the personal finances of Martínez’s family, as well as if there have been any business disputes. Meanwhile, several family members have given statements.
Saturday’s funeral was attended by business leaders and local politicians
Employees at the car showroom have been questioned and checked for traces of firearms explosive.
Martínez was shot in the left side of her head, say police, as she was about put her vehicle through a car wash. They add that the killer or killers used a pistol, possible fitted with a silencer. No shots were reported around the time of the killing, although the car showroom is close to a busy main road.
The parking area outside the car showroom has no video cameras.
The funeral on Saturday was attended by many of Alicante’s business leaders, as well as by local politicians.
Martínez was shot in the left side of her head at close range
Vicente Sala Belló started out in the chemical industry, later moving into property development and car sales. In 1998 he was appointed president of the board of the Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo (CAM), a post he held until the age of 70, in 2009. During his final years there he found himself caught up in a power struggle for control of the savings bank between supporters of Eduardo Zaplana and Francisco Camps, the former head of the regional government of Valencia and the premier at the time, respectively.
The CAM was taken over by the Bank of Spain in July 2011 after it floundered under the weight of heavy exposure to the Spanish real estate sector, which collapsed in 2008.
Sala was subsequently investigated by anti-corruption officers over allegations he had links to senior politicians at Alicante City Hall who gave him access to rezoning plans in the city. By then he was dying from cancer and was never charged.
English version by Nick Lyne.
