MOSCOW, February 1 - RAPSI. The Costa Brava police have detained several high-ranking Spanish officials and suspected members of a Russian criminal group as part of Operation Clotilde, writes the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper.

"The detainees are thought to have laundered 56 million euro over the past two years through various businesses in Catalonia, including a network of firms that is linked to one of the FBI's ten most wanted fugitives," the police said.

The main suspects are Josep Valls, deputy mayor of the coastal town of Lloret de Mar, near Barcelona, and a Russian immigrant, Andrei Petrov.

Other suspects are former Mayor of Lloret de Mar Xavier Crespo, president of the city's hockey club Joan Perarnau, architect Pilar Gimeno and Petrov's relatives.

The investigators' suspicions were fuelled by the incredible speed with which Petrov earned his income in the resort town. He came to Lloret de Mar in 2001, was hired to sell traditional Spanish sweetmeats and also drove a taxi in his free time. But three years later, in 2004, he established a property development company, Development Diagnostic Company SL. Petrov quickly found influential patrons in the city's government, including Josep Valls.

The investigators suspect that Valls helped Petrov's firm to receive management rights for 35% of the town's new shopping centre. Petrov allegedly concluded many other transactions involving local restaurants, filling stations, parking areas and sport clubs to launder money.