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.


Bird-watching tourism - part two
Further to yesterday, Geoff, the blog's twitcher in residence, has put into perspective the argument that bird-watching tourists necessarily contribute much to the wider economy. Staying at an eco-tourist farm as part of a bird-watching trip to Alcúdia, he had the impression that it was the tour company that was benefiting the most and that he spent only small amounts whilst on trips around the island. Moreover, he wonders about Mallorca as a bird-watching destination, given that it has become cheaper to travel to Asia where the birds and the landscapes are more exotic and also given that rarer birds which come to Mallorca do so in the winter when the weather is less inviting and the hotels are shut. On this last point, hotels, the piece from "The Bulletin" on Sunday referred to "a number of hotels ...near to Albufera ... which cater for bird-watchers during the low season". Really? Which ones are they? Unless I'm very much mistaken, there is only one hotel in Playa de Muro open right now, the Iberostar which brings in mainly the cyclists.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Weather Report, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqashW66D7o. Today's title - oh yes you have - allegedly. Which twosome?

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.