The Corruption Fiesta Season: Operación Pasarela
The fiesta season is in full swing. It is reassuring that elements of Majorca'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 into the murky world of political life, Majorcan 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"-dance - possibly - and being made to the walk of 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 (Voltor - vulture) has to do with goings-on at the old Inestur, the latest is looking at IBATUR, the tourism promotional agency, and 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 something that has been a 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.
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.
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