The Corruption Fiesta Season: Operación Pasarela

The fiesta season is in full swing. It is reassuring that elements of Mallorca’s traditions, like the fiestas, are in such rude health, despite everything. There is another tradition that is doing well and which has not succumbed to the slumber of the summer. Political corruption. Like fiesta merry-go-rounds or carousels, the investigations are jolly rides with a certain mystery – the murky world of political life, Mallorcan style.

A new tradition that we can now appreciate is that the corruption investigations centre on the Balearics’ tourism ministry. The latest ones in this tradition are monikered “Operación Pasarela”, the gangway operation. The pirates of Puerto Alcúdia’s Sant Pere fiesta night party are being turned into the Pirates of “Pena”zance and being made to walk the gangway plank of the anti-corruption navy. (Pena refers to a judicial sentence, by the way.)

Whereas the previous – and ongoing – investigation involving the tourism ministry (the vulture case) has to do with goings-on at the old Inestur, the latest is looking at IBATUR, the tourism promotional agency, and at something known as the Fundación Balears Sostenible. All three of these organisations have now been wrapped up into an overarching tourism agency: not before time, and a re-organisation driven by cost-cutting and not by corruption – or maybe someone knew something. Of the three, Inestur and the Fundación were both created during the administration of Jaume Matas, under investigation – as I’m sure you remember – for all manner of carry-on.

The Fundación was established in 2004, primarily to help promote the “tarjeta verde”, the green card of discounts with an environmental angle, and a glorious flop. Why the Fundación, like Inestur, was ever created or was necessary, one has to ask. Both are and were pointless, given IBATUR’s existence and that of various other organisations. The awful conclusion that might be derived from the investigations is that there was another purpose to their creation – allegedly.

While the Unió Mallorquina party has been heavily implicated in the vulture investigation of Inestur, this latest one looks straight at the Partido Popular, Matas’s party. The two parties do occupy similar political ground and are not unknown to partner up. Like other corruption investigations, this one also implicates marketing companies. There is a common theme to these investigations – these media or marketing outfits – along with accusations of false accounting and lining political parties’ pockets: the corruption plod are wondering if money was diverted to political campaigning by Matas, a similar line of enquiry to the vulture case where the UM are concerned.

The currently implicated marketing companies also had much to do with the Mallorca Classic golf tournament, one that was buried into a bunker a couple of years ago, thanks to a withdrawal of government financing, by a government that post-dated the Matas administration. At the time, the government’s pull-out attracted criticism and queries. In light of the Pasarela investigation, rather like the highly questionable institute (Inestur) and Fundación, what now does one make of this withdrawal of financing? The impression given, by all this, is that, just perhaps, someone in the political class knew something. Maybe and, as always, allegedly.

We might have thought that the fiesta season and the arrival of real, hot summer would herald the silly season of little happening. We would have been wrong. The less than silly season of corruption is still with us.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Dance Till You Drop: Pollensa mayor’s problems and Zumba

The corruption cases – one in particular – are moving a little closer to home. At today’s plenary session at Pollensa town hall, much other business is being withdrawn by the opposition parties, in order to focus on asking questions of and seeking explanations from the mayor in respect of what may or may not be his links to the Operación Voltor. This is the one to do with the goings-on at Inestur, the strategy institute within the tourism ministry. Its former director, the Pollensa politician Antoni Oliver, a member of the Unió Mallorquina like the mayor Joan Cerdà, has been implicated in the case, and what interests the opposition are telephone conversations between Oliver and the mayor. These conversations have been mentioned in the case summary. There is also the matter of the accounts for the Pollensa music festival, for which Oliver was responsible. In February, a call was made to conduct an audit of these accounts. The mayor stood up for Oliver when this call was made, implying that any accusations regarding irregularities were a slur.

Zumba in Alcúdia
At the same time as the mayor is being grilled, there will also be something demanding taking place in Puerto Alcúdia; demanding in a rather different way. We’re talking serious fitness stuff. Pant, pant. However, Zumba, so we are told, feels less like the onerous pursuit of an earnest fitness session, more like just getting down and partying. The Zumba slogan is, after all, “ditch the workout, join the party!”

Zumba is basically Latin dance adapted to a fitness environment. And why not. Dance is every bit as beneficial to health as many other forms of exercise, and it is also often more fun. And that is part of the deal with Zumba. It puts the fun back into getting fit. On the Zumba website – http://www.zumba.com – there is a video by a reporter from “The Wall Street Journal”, eulogising the benefits of Zumba and concluding that, at the end of an hour’s session, she has “a feeling of deep joy and happiness”

If you can get over the trademark obsessions with Zumba, and there seem to be a number (though I guess this is fair enough), the site will tell you all about it, and then the question may be – where can I do it? And that’s where the Puerto Alcúdia angle comes in.

There are two Zumba instructors in Puerto Alcúdia, and Alcúdia is the only location in the Balearics which offers official Zumba instruction. Emma, who many might know from Sea Club, and Angel, who others might recognise from the drag troupe at the old La Belle and elsewhere. The sessions take place at Sea Club and at the Calypso fitness centre, and I shall be going along this evening. To take a look. You think I’m doing it, then think again. For now!

Zumba has gone massive in a very short period of time. And to have it right in the heart of Alcúdia. Well, this seems like quite a coup.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Bung-Sai: What? More corruption

It’s all kicking off. Again.

To add to the previous and various corruption “operations” and “cases” – vulture, make-up, Palma Arena – there are now two more, the “Caso Plan Territorial de Mallorca” and “Operación Bonsai”, or “bomsai” if you prefer. You say bomsai, I say bonsai. Let’s call the whole thing off. Fat chance, now that the anti-corruption boys have started digging around in the pot plant earth of paper trails. They’re going to need more than the 55 additional investigators, the cavalry from the mainland, to pick over the rotting body politic of Mallorca – like vultures. All these operation and case names, it’s like the monikering of hurricanes. And here come further hurricanes, we can but presume.

It’s hard to keep track of what’s going on, especially as some of the same names keep cropping up in dispatches. Whether the minutiae of the cases really matter – to anyone other than the legal eagles (and vultures) – is a moot point. You’re probably not interested, and I’m not sure that I am either, other than in the fact that the same sort of charges are being levelled and that these charges involve, for the most part, politicians or those involved with government or quasi-governmental organisations and projects. These charges include bribery, false accounting, diversion of funds and something known as “prevaricación”, which is only partially similar to the English meaning. Getting to a precise understanding in Spanish isn’t easy, but various options are – the deliberate avoidance of telling the truth and a breach of duty.

Of the two latest cases, the Caso Plan Territorial de Mallorca (PTM) relates to developments in different parts of the island, including those of the apparent conversion of “virgin” land into developed land in Alcúdia and Pollensa. Caught up in this are some old friends. Naturally enough, the former tourism minister Miquel Nadal is one of them: no corruption case would be complete without him appearing on the cast list. Also starring are ex-Enviro Man, Grimalt, and the Partido Popular’s former president in the Balearics, Rosa Estaràs.

The little ornamental tree case centres on a company within the Balearic Government, CAIB Patrimonio, the function of which is the acquisition and sale of land and properties. So nothing strange about this, as corruption cases usually have to do with land and properties and who has trousered a wedge of illicit moolah. One of the figures in the Bonsai case, and we haven’t heard from him or about him for a while, is Vicente Grande. Yep, he who was the president of Real Mallorca football club and helped turn it into the basket-case it remains, and who is implicated in the PTM case. More significantly, of those detained, one is Jorge Sainz de Baranda who was the director-general of taxes (!) under the administration of … Jaume Matas.

So here we go again. Another boring day in Mallorca. Nothing much happening, only a bunch of politicos and chums being hauled in to explain how a whole bunch of public money ended up somewhere it wasn’t meant to. Oh, and just in case you are wondering how a case comes to be called Bomsai, this is because it relates to the building of the “parque de bomberos” (fire-fighters) and the headquarters of the ministry of health in the islands (“salud-islas”) in Palma. Bom. Sa. I. Geddit? Bomsai (aka Bonsai). Gosh, there are some clever folk in the police or judiciary who come up with these names. Maybe there’s a department devoted to the naming of cases. There should be. There’s enough work for there to be one.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Bailed Out: Jaume and the architects

If you needed to find three million euros pretty sharpish, where would you look?

Short of suddenly striking lucky on the Euromillions, chances are that you wouldn’t find it, and that if your necessity for the three million had been to avoid being banged up, then you would now be languishing in a cell. Duly incarcerated, you would also be unable to participate in an hour-long television interview in which you attack an investigating judge, prosecutors and the police. But then you are not Jaume Matas.

The Matas case is extraordinary in many respects, but the very public nature of the accusations and charges and rebuttals and denials makes it not just extraordinary but unreal. And then there is the small matter of that three million wedge which was handed over in the nick of time and thus spared Matas from prison. Where did it come from? That was what the judge wanted to know; you would think that he’d be grateful. There are plenty who will argue, with some justification, that the bail was excessive (and political). Matas found the money, despite the slight inconvenience of the Easter holidays getting in the way. Maybe this has piqued the judge.

The money, it would appear, came via two sources – Banco de Valencia and Arquía-Caja de Arquitectos, a credit co-operative formed in 1983 for the express purpose of providing savings and loans to architects. As such, you can probably understand that questions are being raised as to why it has been caught up in the provision of bail to keep the former Balearics president out of the slammer, even if it did not directly stump up the moolah as there was a transfer to it from the Banco de Valencia. And as for this bank … It is part of Bancaja, an employee of which is Matas’s brother-in-law, himself implicated in the Palma Arena case. The president of Bancaja also happens to be a former president of the Valencia “generalitat” and a friend of Matas.

Despite the not unusual connections and the unease at Arquía, Matas, one would think, had every right to find whatever means he could to raise what was a huge amount. The size of the bond, while indicating the seriousness of the charges, has added to the sense in which a presumption of guilt has been made. To this end, and bringing us to the unreality of the whole episode, Matas went onto local television this week to express his innocence and to have a go at the prosecuting ranks. Fair though it may be for Matas to give his public version of events, in countering that emanating from the judge and prosecutors, one does have to wonder – again – as to  the judicial process. Moreover, the television channel he chose for his interview, IB3, is not entirely without some political colour – that of the Unió Mallorquina party which has been and remains closely associated with the management of the station. The UM is the most natural ally of the Partido Popular, Matas’s party, on the centre-right of Mallorcan politics. IB3 was also the channel on which former UM leader Maria Antònia Munar gave an interview in which she explained her side of corruption charges that she faces.

Other than the kerfuffle surrounding the bail, it has emerged that Matas has challenged the judge to investigate who – Matas argues – falsified documents related to meetings and the ordering of payments. Not only is this crucial, it also serves as a reminder that there may well be two sides to the whole story. Some, such as elements of the local press, seem to have ignored this possibility, preferring to see Matas as having been bang to rights. Possibly so, but possibly not. Let’s not forget this. Matas could have been remanded, but he has not been.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

The Matas Case – Week One

Welcome to the everyday, every week story of corrupt political folk in Mallorca. In this week’s episodes, former Balearics president Jaume Matas came up before the examining magistrate José Castro. First they had to adjourn and then they had to move court room because they reckoned the original room was bugged. Meanwhile, Jaume got annoyed by the fact that he was being called “Jaime”. “Soy Jaume,” he insisted in the best Catalan tradition, albeit that to be strictly Catalan he should have said “sóc”. “Put a sóc in it,” the magistrate might have said, but didn’t.

Jaime, Jaume, did though admit to having paid 400 grand – in black – for work on his house in Palma. But some thought that this might have been a bit of a damage limitation ruse. Demonstrators were in no doubt. “Thieves,” they and their placards cried out when Jaime, Jaume and his (their) wife and lawyer came to court. “Hand the money back,” they demanded. The guys from the press weren’t having any of it either. “Matas wanted to cheat the citizens of the Balearics,” said an editorial in the paper “Ultima Hora”. The prosecutors were also unimpressed, or rather they were highly impressed – by the list of charges they had brought. 68 years they called for. And a 3 million euro bail. Do we hear any higher bids? Strange system that makes these sorts of demands and seems to also make celebrities of the prosecutors and magistrates. Even the left-wing is uneasy that the bail request is because Jaime, Jaume is a politician. The magistrate said he’d pronounce on the bail terms on Monday, when will start another day, another week in the story of corrupt political folk in Mallorca – allegedly and never forgetting that this isn’t actually the full trial.

Undercover in Muro
On a sort of legally related matter and offering a twist to the idea of plain-clothed police, the local plod in Muro are having to go out on patrol in their own clothes because the town hall is apparently not providing uniforms. The mayor is suggesting that it’s all a question of tightening belts, as in the town hall hasn’t got any money (except to buy the bull-ring of course), and that the police will get the clothes if necessary. To which one might ask, what constitutes “necessary”? Bizarre situation.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Murky Waters – Jaume Matas and Mallorcan society

The former president of the Balearics, Jaume Matas, is finally up before the beak to answer allegations related to public money that seemingly went AWOL, or into someone’s pockets, during the project to build the Palma Arena velodrome. The spend on the project, which was undertaken during Matas’s second period as president, was some 100 million euros, 70 million more than was originally budgeted for. Matas is in court with his wife, his brother-in-law and the former head of the GESA-Endesa energy company; all of them facing charges.

While the Unió Mallorquina cases have tended to dominate the corruption column inches, the Matas case is arguably the most serious, given that it involves a former president. Matas was also a one-time member of the national government, that of José María Aznar. The charges against Matas are complex, and I have no intention of even beginning to relate them, but some of them have been delicious in their reporting, as with the inventory of luxury items in his so-called “palacete” in Palma (13 November, 2009: Finding Treasure In The Dark).

The proceedings got under way on Tuesday, only for there to be an immediate adjournment as the prosecution had introduced new evidence from phone taps, something which UK readers might find interesting; Matas’s lawyer is arguing against their being submissible. But before appearing in court, Matas had to run the gauntlet of the media and demonstrators. One of the odder aspects of the court appearance is that it, together with others involving prominent politicians, has made a celebrity of a security guard who accompanies the accused. This is José Nieto, aka “Primo”, a bull of a bloke who is a kick-boxing champion. Not only has he been interviewed by the press, he was also depicted – in cartoon format – on a demonstrator’s placard with the words “give it to him, Primo”. He has become the star of the show.

While much of the reporting will concentrate on the technicalities of the case and on the individuals, there is an altogether more fundamental issue that needs to be addressed – why does it happen? Corruption, that is, or the circumstances that give rise to alleged corruption. The facile answer is that all politicians are corrupt, or something like that. An “expert” reckoned the other day that corruption was some sort of psychiatric condition. Maybe it is. But why have the Balearics, and Mallorca most obviously, come to assume the position of title-holder in the Spanish corruption league? Other parts of the country are similarly blighted, Valencia for example, but it is important to go behind the cases and understand the dynamics that foment the island’s corruption.

When Matas first came into the regional government as economics minister in 1993, he was asked about corruption. His response was to quote the Spanish philosopher José Luis Aranguren. “It is not politicians who are corrupt, but it is society that is sick.” The words are highly relevant. Without knowing the quote (that appeared in “The Diario” on 21 March), I said as much myself some weeks ago – “All power may well indeed corrupt, and inappropriate behaviour by politicians may indeed be taken as a signal to others in local society to misbehave, but I would argue that it is this society that begets the politics of the island, not the other way round” (2 March: The Scream). I have also said that the obvious insularity of Mallorca and its networks and families can be highly influential in creating those circumstances in which corruption can occur.

The logic of this, and of Matas’s quote, is troubling, as it can be interpreted as making politicians charged with corruption appear to be victims of society. This would be insulting to politicians who act honourably, but the logic does need to be taken account of as what it implies is that Mallorcan politics and democracy cannot be practised in a correct way. Ever. Without a change in the culture of society, products of which are the local politicians.

In the reporting that does go behind the case, the emphasis has tended to focus on the individuals. Character assassination has become flavour of the month. It is easy to do this, and while the corrupt cannot expect a sympathetic hearing, the concentration on people’s flaws cannot be complete or entirely comprehensible without an analysis of the society that brings them about. To do so is to enter murky waters, but it is something that needs to be done.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Kiss And Make-Up: No chance – corruption cases continue

The corruption cases involving leading members of the Unió Mallorquina party continue to astound. There are now two former tourism ministers in the frame – Francesc Buils has been indicted, to add to Miquel Nadal. The former speaker of the parliament and former leader of the Council of Mallorca, Maria Antònia Munar, is now accused of diverting some five million euros of public funds between 2000 and 2007. There are also accusations of payments to party members from public money. The details no longer seem to matter. The scale is all that really counts. And the impression. One not of a party rotten to the core but one riddled with the maggots of decay at its very top: Buils and Nadal were very much Munar’s men. They were. The canaries are singing, looking to pass the buck and deflect the accusations elsewhere.

There remains in all this sleaze and in all these allegations a suggestion that the cases are all political. Are they really? For them to be political would require some sort of set-up involving other political parties, the police and the judges. It’s a nonsense. Nevertheless, there is an unease with the highly public nature of the way in which evidence is given out and in which the accused are paraded. Jason Moore, in an editorial in “The Bulletin”, made a valid point the other day, one with which I agree; in essence, that the process should go ahead with greater dignity. The calls for sentences that come from the prosecutors before the full judicial procedure has been gone through are as unpleasant as they are presumptive of guilt.

This said, the magnitude of the charges, and also those levelled against the former president of the regional government, Jaume Matas (Partido Popular), are such that highly public displays might be said to be necessary. The corruption cases are that serious that they do threaten an undermining of the democratic system. One cannot overstate the significance of what is taking place in Mallorca at present. I have wondered if I have overplayed all this myself in invoking the past – the Franco past. I don’t know that I have, but I wouldn’t necessarily have expected support for this from … Maria Antònia Munar. In an interview with the IB3 television station yesterday, she declared her complete innocence and went on to say that “democracy is based on the confidence that people have in the institutions and politicians, and when this confidence is lost a dictator can emerge”. She is not wrong, but some might detect a touch of dissembling – allegedly.

So seriously are the cases being taken that the central government’s justice ministry has authorised a reinforcement of the anti-corruption investigation unit in the Balearics. Fifty-five prosecutors are on their way to augment its numbers. 55! The Balearics delegate to the central government has had to ask for police reinforcements because so many officers are involved in examining the evidence associated with the different cases. It is a staggering situation.

Among the various accusations being made is one by the judge presiding over the so-called “caso Maquillaje” (the make-up case). He has accused Munar of alleged bribery. There was something rather poignant, if this is the right word, about this accusation. On the day that the judge was saying this, someone left prison. The poignancy was the photo of this person with a beret and sunglasses, travelling on what looked like a bus. Who was this? Luis Roldán. He was once the director-general of the Guardia Civil. He had served half a 31-year sentence for, among other things, bribery.

Yesterday there was another anti-corruption demonstration in Palma organised by the “Plataforma contra la Corrupción”. It also had a certain poignancy. They demonstrated in the hope that the current spate of corruption cases might be the last. They can hope. They should remember Roldán. Maybe I – they – do make too much of all this. There’s nothing new under a Spanish or Mallorcan sun. Not now and not, in all likelihood, in the future. But maybe the highly public parades of the accused might, just might, stop that future.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

The Scream: The anniversary of corruption in Mallorca

It was another holiday yesterday. For once, not a religious occasion, but a political one. Balearics Day, the twenty-seventh anniversary of the introduction of autonomous, regional government in the islands. How apt that a political celebration should be marked by the worst cases of political corruption that Mallorca has ever known – which is saying something. During the twenty-seven years, scandal has reared its head from time to time, but it has spent the past few weeks screaming and bellowing. Rather than dressing up in party frocks, the celebrations for Balearics Day should have witnessed Munchian mourning-black dresses, the scream of the latest political nightmare and anxiety, and hair shirts donned by discredited individuals from the political class. Henry II once did a good line in public humiliation following the murder of Thomas à Becket. No-one may have been betrayed or assassinated, but the entire system of democracy that regional autonomy was meant to have bestowed on Mallorca has been betrayed. And not for the first time. The question is whether it will be the last. You wouldn’t count on it.

President Antich, in a speech to coincide with Balearics Day, has not engaged in public self-flagellation but he has offered his apologies to the people of the islands. He is resisting calls for an early election, preferring to appeal to other parties to come together. Minority rule and motions of no confidence may make this resistance futile, but the mechanics of government – and the constant harping on about the allegedly dysfunctional nature of coalition – are secondary gloss over the more fundamental issue of corruption, both within politics and within Mallorcan society. More than fretting over the electoral system, the corruption scandals should be informing a debate as to what brings them about. Balearics Day should be the focal point for what the past twenty-seven years have represented, as they have culminated in the current chaos.

Autonomous government brought with it responsibility, that of acting in accordance with democratic principles. But the revelations of the past months have suggested that this lesson has not been learned or, over the course of the past generation, has come to be forgotten. Autonomous government also brought with it the Unió Mallorquina, the party at the centre of most of the rumpuses. It was formed around the same time and in readiness for the first local elections in 1983. That it, a party designed to serve “nationalist” interests on the island, should have been exposed as one serving only its own interests is a deeply alarming condemnation of not just the wider political system but also the social system of networks and nepotism. There is a horrible sense in which “nationalist” is aligned with the self-preservation of the insular webs of family and favours. Which is not to single out the UM, far from it, but it is now symbolic of a sick system created by regionalisation that has politicised a societal preference for rule-bending. All power may well indeed corrupt, and inappropriate behaviour by politicians may indeed be taken as a signal to others in local society to misbehave, but I would argue that it is this society that begets the politics of the island, not the other way round. It has spawned Maria Munar, a figure of the UM from its inception, a Cruella de Vil who has kidnapped a doe-eyed and naïve democracy and bundled it into the back of an official limo, secreted inside a massive wedge of cash. Antich has been criticised for booting the UM out of the coalition. Booting out? He should have launched them into the far reaches of the universe. He was absolutely right to disassociate himself and the PSOE from them.

Balearics Day is the celebration of one of the most important elements of the post-Franco era, that of autonomous government. A generation on from the worthy intentions of autonomy and what does one have? A political party that can allegedly turn a ministry into its own bank. The celebration should inspire not a debate as to the technicalities of local government but soul-searching as to the intertwined mores of sectors of Mallorcan society and the political class. A generation on and one wonders what has been learned. Autonomous government was a clear statement of the rejection of Francoism. But let’s not forget that Franco despised and mistrusted political parties. He did away with them, and The Scream lasted for decades.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

Thus Spake Zarathustra – The downfall of Mother Munar

Maria Antònia Munar, matriarch of the Unió Mallorquina party and of Mallorcan politics, has finally quit her post as speaker of the Balearics parliament. Her role in the so-called “caso maquillaje” (make-up) and the corruption allegations levelled at her have – belatedly – claimed her. She is accused, along with former tourism minister Miquel Nadal, of using an audiovisual company, Video U, to divert a quarter of a million euros of public funds for the purpose of financing the UM’s electoral campaigns. Her position had become untenable. The new code of politician ethics that had been introduced was meant to have led to resignations while investigations were ongoing. Munar had chosen to ignore this, until Friday.

While the case has still to be fully brought to court, the knives have already been sharpened. One does have to wonder as to what impact the press might have on any trial. So far there have only been declarations in front of the judge, though Munar has chosen her right to keep silent. Meanwhile, the outstanding “Diario” journalist, Matías Vallés, has – not for the first time – ripped a reputation to shreds. In yesterday’s paper, he headlined a piece about Munar thus: “The most hated woman in Mallorca’s history”. Headlined it thus, and then thus spake Zarathustra. Vallés quotes Munar from a previous time, when she governed in Mallorca alongside the discredited and under-investigation ex-president Jaume Matas of the Partido Popular. At that time she told her party that there was going to be “no-one accused of corruption”. With this, Vallés brands her Zarathustra. Nietzsche took the mythical character and made him “the first immoralist”. Perhaps Munar considered herself an “Übermensch”.

Vallés refers to Munar’s lack of principles and to her relationship with Nadal. “Her beloved dolphin” is how he describes the ex-minister and Munar’s anointed successor as party leader. He had previously called Nadal “ineffable”. In a twist to the saga, Nadal and three directors of Video U have protested their innocence and sought to finger Munar, a delicious story of Munar handing Nadal 300 grand in readies while in the official car of the president of the Council of Mallorca (which Munar once was) all adding to the sleaze.

The characterisation of Munar as a hated woman raises an issue in respect of women in Mallorcan politics, one that has resonance in wider Mallorcan society. Vallés also refers to Munar as Lady Diada, and one has to go back a bit to understand quite what he means; there is form when it comes to Vallés and Munar. The Diada name can just as easily be Lady MacBeth – feminine compassion supplanted by ambition and ruthlessness. Generalisations are always to be treated with care, but Munar’s style and demeanour are not unusual among Mallorcan women of a certain standing. It is in the Mallorcan character to exhibit a sense of superiority in any event, and for some women this can become aloofness that borders on the contemptuous. And to this can be added power lust and self-promotion. Vallés repeated yesterday some of what he said about Munar in December 2007. He mentions a magazine, paid for by the Council of Mallorca, which featured 87 photos of Munar on 83 pages. In another magazine, “Brisas”, published by the Diario’s competitor, the Serra group (“Ultima Hora” and “The Bulletin”), its VIP section was once full of photos of Munar in her finery. One couldn’t turn a page without her staring out at you. But she is not unique.

The German neighbours the other day raised what at first seemed a strange point, followed by a question. On Sundays, they had noticed women who wear furs, wandering around with noses firmly raised in the air. What was their standing, they asked. Initially I didn’t understand, until I remembered that in Germany status tends to be defined, not by class as it might be in Britain, but by profession, whether the husband’s or the woman’s. Talk to Germans, and their small talk is often littered with the adjective “beruflich” (professional). It matters to them. There wasn’t necessarily any such equivalent in Mallorca, I ventured. Just wealth. Or power. But they had identified a trait, one seemingly compatible with Munar. Aloof and contemptuous, not just of others – the Übermensch mentality perhaps, the triumphing by making enemies (as she has admitted) – but also of the rules. Munar has been brought down by alleged rule-bending and breaking and by a hubris that is symptomatic of a social stratum in Mallorca. Vallés has not necessarily made this point, but he has nevertheless given it potential currency. If you read the native, then I recommend you take a look at his article:

http://www.diariodemallorca.es/mallorca/2010/02/27/matias-valles-mujer-odiada-historia-mallorca/549053.html
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

We Got Nothing To Be Guilty Of – Mallorca’s tourism corruption

Events surrounding Operación Voltor (Operation Vulture) and the corruption allegations related to Inestur and the tourism ministry have moved on apace. The prosecutors are talking in terms of six years imprisonment for Miquel Nadal, ex-tourism minister, and eleven for the Miquel Flaquer, recent leader of the Unió Mallorquina. One needs to be careful. Though charged, along with others, there have been no trials as such. These announcements are often made as to prison terms, but they are rather unseemly. Guilt does tend to be presumed, perhaps with very good reason, but the pre-match (so to speak) publicity given to stints inside does rather stick in the throat.

Nevertheless, what is emerging is evidence of what the prosecution alleges was a “network of assistance to businesspeople close to the UM” that operated via the tourism ministry with the additional aid of the former leader Flaquer. A key example concerns the awarding of a contract for a voice recognition system worth over a million euros to a technology firm. The police argue that the value was way above what was required, the suspicion being that the money trail ended up in the coffers of the party itself. What all this implies is that the ministry, and therefore also Inestur, were being exploited for gain and being run as some private fiefdom to finance, if not necessarily individuals, but then the UM party – a line of argument denied, as you might expect. Individuals or party, it doesn’t really matter, as it all involves the diversion of public money. It seems extraordinary, assuming one accepts the police’s version, that a ministry can be so run without apparently any checks, until the belated ones of the prosecutors. Moreover, it suggests a vein of collusion coursing through the ministry with drips attached to various individuals all tagged with the name UM.

At present, the investigation seems to centre on the period when Miquel Nadal was minister. His predecessor, Francesc Buils, has not been detained but he is expected to be called to answer questions. No charges have been made against him, but a question which arises is whether the UM, in return for its coalition place, was granted the tourism ministry and then targeted it as a means to a rather different end than that of merely promoting and managing the islands’ tourism industry. Inevitably, the scandal has been used to question the viability of coalition governments in the Balearics (well, by “The Bulletin” anyway). This is plainly not the issue. Coalitions do not beget corruption. The logic of the “viability” argument is that they do, and it is wrong-headed. The issue is corruption – period – and the wider societal malaise that cultivates it. This, and the sheer inadequacy of control mechanisms. I would reiterate a point made more than once on this blog, that to reassure a rightly alarmed electorate, a system of pre-emptive vetting of contract awards is needed, rather than the retrospective actions of the police and prosecutors.

Anyway, back to day-to-day running of government, and there is now a new tourism minister. President Antich has chosen not to assume command, though he has put sport under his direct control, and has moved to tourism the employment minister Joana Barceló, president of the Council of Menorca from 1999 to 2008 and a member of the PSIB-PSOE, i.e. the Balearics wing of the socialist party. Antich is also rebuffing attempts by the Partido Popular to bring a vote of no confidence.