In Spain, Juan Antonio Roca was arrested for taking systematic bribes as head of urban planning in Marbella. His net salary was less than €150,000 a year, yet when he was arrested his property included two huge Andalucian estates, luxury hotels, three palaces, beachside housing developments, a private plane and artworks worth a combined $2.4 billion!

Asked by a judge to explain this wealth, Roca said he had won the lottery 80 times. The prosecution noted that the chances of that were one in 43,000,000,000,000,000! In such circumstances, even the best defence lawyer might falter a little when beginning a speech, “Improbable as it might seem . . . ”