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Spanish judge probes oil spill
By CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- A Spanish judge has placed three senior government officials under official investigation for their roles in the oil spill from a sunken tanker last November, Spanish news media have reported. It is the first time since the oil spill polluted hundreds of kilometres of coastline that senior officials have been put under official investigation, a legal situation in Spain that is a step short of being charged with a crime. To date, only the Greek captain of the Prestige ship has been charged, and he was released from jail earlier this month on $3 million bail with orders to report to the court regularly. Investigating magistrate Francisco Javier Collazo, in the northwest town of Corcubion, ordered the three senior officials to appear in court to respond to questions about why officials ordered the ship out to open sea after it cracked its hull on November 13 near the coast, starting the oil spill. The ship sank on November 19 more than 100 miles off the coast. Experts say at least one-quarter of its 77,000-ton cargo of heavy fuel oil has spilled, blackening coastline in Spain and France and causing multi-million dollar damages to the fishing and tourist industries. A court official declined to comment on the case to CNN, but the state-run news agency EFE and Spain's largest-circulation newspaper, El Pais, reported that the judge had issued the order. The officials under investigation include Arsenio Fernandez de Mesa, the Spanish government's top official in the northwest region of Galicia, where the spill occurred. De Mesa did not immediately receive a copy of the court order, one of his spokesmen told CNN. The other two officials named in the order are Angel del Real, until recently the maritime department chief in the northwest city of La Coruna, close to where the spill occurred, and Jose Luis Lopez Sors, the director general of Spain's Merchant Marine department, who is based in Madrid. Real has since taken a position as a port director in the nearby city of Ferrol, an aide told CNN. The minister of development, Francisco Alvarez Cascos, on Tuesday defended the senior officials, two of whom reported to his ministry. He said it was "unreal" that they should be under suspicion for the prestige catastrophe, news reports said. The Prestige's captain, Greek national Apostolos Mangouras, 68, was detained on November 15 on suspicion of an environmental crime and also on suspicion of disobeying Spanish authorities. He was released on bail on February 7. The cleanup from the spill continues. On Monday, 300 fishing boats were scooping up fuel at sea off the northern and northwest coasts of Spain.
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