Mallorca's Greatest Scandals And PR Disasters

Here are just a few scandals and potential or real PR disasters that Mallorca has had to face over the past twenty years or so. One of them doesn't really belong here. Which one? You decide.

1. The Sóller Tunnel. The first great corruption scandal of modern, autonomous-government Mallorca. In 1989, the Balearic Government granted the concession for the building of the tunnel to a company owned by Antoni Cuart, a friend of the then president of the Balearics, Gabriel Cañellas. In that year, money started to be lodged in bank accounts. It came from Cuart, though he was to state in court that it was a company director, by then dead, who was responsible for administering payments. The money was used for Partido Popular electoral purposes and was channelled to the Balearic Islands Foundation, presided over by Cañellas, who was forced to resign as president. He was indicted, but the affair came to an end when the Balearics High Court closed the case in 1997. The charges were proven but those accused were acquitted because of the statute of limitations.

2. The eco-tax. Dreamt up by PSOE's Celesti Alomar, the tourism minister, and the minister for finance, Joan Mesquida, the eco-tax, officially and legally named the "tax for stays in businesses for tourist accommodation", was approved in 2001 and introduced from 1 May, 2002. The battle to prevent the tax's introduction saw the national Partido Popular government against it and the national constitutional court having to arbitrate. It decided against suspension of the tax, and so it came into being. At the time of its introduction, there was a slump in the German tourism market and, though it has been argued that the tax didn't contribute to a further slump, there were plenty who argued that it did. The PR fallout was felt in Britain, too, and when the PP came back to power in the Balearics in 2003, it scrapped the tax.

3. Jaume Matas and all that. Where does one begin with the corruption charges levelled against the former Balearics president? They all stemmed from what was known as the "caso Andratx", a series of charges brought against, among others, the former PP mayor of Andratx, Eugenio Hidalgo, in 2006. They all had to do with urban planning corruption. Hidalgo went to prison, but in the process of investigation, anti-corruption prosecutors and investigating judges began digging much deeper. One of the others who went to prison was the director-general for land planning in the Matas 2003-2007 government. The link was established. What followed were numerous separate investigations. These implicated not just members of the PP but also leading figures in the Unió Mallorquina, the PP's partner in government. These leading figures are all now in prison. Matas isn't, but he faces many charges which have yet to come to trial. And the most significant of the cases is one known as the "caso Palma Arena". It was this investigation which led to something even more scandalous.

4. Iñaki Urdangarin. He was just another member of the Spanish royal family, the husband of Princess Cristina, King Juan Carlos's younger daughter. He had been an Olympic sportsman and through marriage to Cristina, the Duchess of Palma, he became the Duke of Palma. He wasn't an obscure royal but he wasn't important either. He became very important, however, when Judge José Castro, investigating the "caso Palma Arena", unearthed some invoices which had been raised by the Instituto Noos, of which Urdangarin had been a co-founder, and sent to the Fundación Illesport, a body linked to the tourism ministry. They were for 2.3 million euros, and the final invoice was raised just before the 2007 election that Matas lost. The judge was interested in these invoices. Very interested. And he became interested as well in the role of the princess. The Mallorcan scandal became a Spanish scandal. Juan Carlos was embroiled in the scandal, and who is to say that the possibility of his daughter being placed on trial didn't contribute to his abdication?

5. The Palmanova bombing. Five years ago (the date was 30 July), two Guardia Civil officers were blown up by an ETA bomb that had been hidden on their patrol vehicle. It was Mallorca's first true atrocity by terrorists. The island went into lockdown but the terrorists were not found. The press, the British press in the form of "The Sun", did its best to turn the bombing and two subsequent minor incidents in Palma into a PR disaster. Its travel editor wrote that the bombs could spell the end of tourism in Spain and that tourists would avoid Mallorca. She was very wrong.

6. In a bar in Magalluf in 2014, an Irish girl was filmed while engaging in some action with over twenty todgers. The video went viral on the internet. No one died.