The Death Of Superman

If there were a Spanish equivalent of E. Jarvis Thribb, he would now be penning his poetical obituary. "So, farewell then, Superman. Keith's mum reckoned you were iffy. Your tribute should only be pithy. To be honest, you were iffy."

Superman once appeared at his own judicial hearing. Or at least on the steps to the court. He had taken on the real-life form of the often larger-than-life José María Ruiz-Mateos. Clark Kent had been called upon for help, and it was supplied in the form of a Superman outfit. Iffy he was, but heaven knows he was also a showman, especially when thumbing a nose at courts. The Superman outfit was from 1997. There was to be a later appointment with the fancy-dress consultant: 1999 when he appeared as a convict at another hearing. José María Ruiz-Mateos, businessman, rogue and entertainer.

An entrepreneur with an ego massively disproportionate to a slight frame, he did what many entrepreneurs do, which was to name his company in his own image, i.e use his name. The first two letters of his two surnames created Ruma. With the SA suffix for the "sociedad anónima", the company became Rumasa. Founded in 1961, by 1983 it had become so vast that it was Spain's largest business concern, with some 700 businesses and 65,000 employees. It controlled banks and hotels among others. In 1983, Rumasa was expropriated by the PSOE government of Felipe González, whose economy minister, Miguel Boyer, was to become Ruiz-Mateos's number one enemy. The justifications for the "nationalisation" included repeated failure to submit the banks to external audit, the permanent obstruction of Bank of Spain inspectors, the risks assumed by the banks and the solvency of the whole Rumasa group.

It was to take sixteen years of legal hearings, but in 1999 the Supreme Court was to to absolve him of various charges. The showman had won, and with Spain now ruled by the Partido Popular, old accusations that the expropriation had been an unconstitutional conspiracy by PSOE resurfaced. Meanwhile, Ruiz-Mateos had already resurfaced in a business form - Nueva Rumasa - and never shy of hurling his own accusations, one went in the direction of Gabriel Escarrer of Meliá at a gathering at the university in Palma in 1998. He had enjoyed the fruits of the "robbery" of Rumasa - hotels in Calas de Mallorca and Palmanova.

Nueva Rumasa was never as big as the old Rumasa, but it was big enough. A hundred-plus businesses and by 2010 it was clear that several of them were in trouble. Ten businesses alone held some 700 million euros of debt. They included Menorca's Quesería Menorquina and the Hotasa hotel chain with its establishments in Can Picafort and Calas de Mallorca. New accusations surfaced. Embezzlement was just one.

The showman, the rogue, Ruiz-Mateos believed he was above the law. Repeatedly, he sought to avoid appearing in court, citing various ailments. When finally he came before a Mallorcan judge in 2012, he asked her what she wanted from him. She was an "assassin", a "bad person". "There is no one worse than a judge."

Ruiz-Mateos is now dead. Superman is dead. Above the law, he believed in his own publicity and his superhero status. It was all a charade. Whatever conspiracies he may have perceived, he was to spend periods in jail. There will now be no more imprisonment, but cases against Nueva Rumasa remain open. He was a crook who tried to charm the public with his showmanship, but ultimately the repeated accusations and legal proceedings told their own story. The public was no longer fooled.

His death coincides with a sentencing in Madrid. Gerardo Díaz Ferrán, the former co-owner of Grupo Marsans has been condemned to five and a half years imprisonment for fraud, money laundering and concealment of assets. This is the Marsans which, among other things, controlled the Hotetur hotel chain. Díaz Ferrán was also a one-time president of the Spanish businesses confederation. His death comes a few days before the appearance in a Palma court of the boss of OHL, Juan Miguel Villar Mir, who has been ordered to declare in respect of the Son Espases Hospital tender-rigging affair, from which his company was allegedly to have benefited. Ruiz-Mateos's death comes a few short weeks after Rodrigo Rato scandalised some by his holidaying in Mallorca. This is the Rodrigo Rato, former president of Bankia, ex-director general of the IMF and one-time government economy minister, who is at liberty but facing charges of money laundering and fraud.

There is coincidence in these, but the coincidence should not be lost. Whether with political connections - as with allegations against Villar Mir and Rato - or without, there is a Spanish business world every bit as prone to scandal as the politicians. But with Superman's death maybe they'll now all become superheroes. Not that you would bank on this. Not when banks are involved.