his house, his businesses and his time before becoming mayor

They both met in the 70s and decided together to look for new opportunities in the epicentre of luxury on the Costa del Sol, an environment they were far from in the early years. And the couple started from the bottom, opening their first barthe “Mayte I”, which quickly became popular for its homemade and accessible menus.

The establishment has become a meeting point and will eventually allow them to develop their business by also opening a second site, the “Mayte Puerto” in Puerto Banus. Here the take-off began. Being located in the most exclusive area of ​​Marbella allowed them to make contacts, begin to rub shoulders with personalities and receive the many journalists who, in those years, covered the summer seasons in Marbella.

The success of their businesses has encouraged them to fully integrate into the social life of the city, something that, without a doubt, was a springboard for Muñoz to move on to the next stage: politics, a universe he entered supported by Jesús Gil.

The figure of the mayor of Marbella at the time was already involved in scandals at that time. Nevertheless, Muñoz joined the city council in 1991, where he went from councilor of festivals to first deputy mayor and finally to the advisor in office after Gil’s resignation following his conviction in the “T-shirt affair”.

Scandals

From that moment on, his life took a radical turn. The figure of the successful businessman was transformed into that of the mayor who ran a booming tourist city. It was at that time, while he was mayor, that he began his relationship with Isabelle Pantojawhich would mark a before and after in his personal and political life. The romance with the famous tonadillera not only had an impact on his marriage with Mayte Zaldívar, but also dragged him into a spiral of scandals media, that would be his downfall.

The romance began in 2003 and ended in 2009 after having traveled through television sets, covers and even courts. But how did the former mayor and the tonadillera meet? At the height of her career, Isabel Pantoja gave a concert in Marbella in 1990, in front of Muñoz who already fell in love with the artist. Although it was not until eight years later, 2003during their second meeting, coinciding with a campaign of the singer as the image of Marbella.

From then on, they began to be seen in public, even in the presence of Zaldívar, and the rumors began. Shortly after, their first meetings secrets in the apartment that the singer had in Guadalpín.

They played in the press a love story in the purest adolescent style and, after denying the elder, they began to appear together and confirm their relationship coinciding with Rocío 2003, where they showed themselves very in love. So much so that they acquired together the exclusive house My Gypsy -already gone- and Julián Muñoz was the first man to set foot in Cantora after Paquirri’s death.

Isabel became Julián’s fundamental support in difficult times, starting with the motion of censure that removed him from the mayor’s office and that would mark the beginning of his decline. From there, he was charged in the “Proinsa case”where the prosecutor requested 18 months in prison and eight months of recusal against him and certain advisers of the former GIL for having authorized a building permit in 1999.

He was also sentenced to six months in prison and an eight-year ban on employment and public office for a town planning offence in the “Banana Beach” case and later, on July 19, 2006, he would be arrested during the third phase of the trial. “Operation Malaysia” for alleged corruption and embezzlement of public funds. A story of corruption that ended his career and his freedom a decade after his professional and social connections had catapulted him to success.