Potentially good news for all those Brits in Spain who are living in houses that were built without proper licences. The Reader (Almería-based English-language paper) tells us: Mayor of Zurgena and 24 more charged in urban corruption case.
An interesting language point from the story is the word prevaricación which although clearly connected to the English “prevarication” is not a direct translation.
The Diccionario de la Real Academia Española defines prevaricación as:
prevaricación.
(Del lat. praevaricatĭo, -ōnis).
Delito consistente en dictar a sabiendas una resolución injusta una autoridad, un juez o un funcionario.
As shown in the quoted article, that would be “abuse of public office”.
“Prevarication”, on the other hand, is defined in Chambers Online Dictionary as:
prevaricate verb (prevaricated, prevaricating) intrans
to avoid stating the truth or coming directly to the point; to behave or speak evasively.
prevarication noun. prevaricator noun.
ETYMOLOGY: 17c: from Latin praevaricari, praevaricatus to walk with splayed legs, from varus bent.
It looks like it’s all to do with crooked men and the crooked houses they allowed, whichever language it’s in, though.
don't confuse the narrator 