There was a time when I paid comparatively little attention to politics in Mallorca or indeed to politics in Spain. What made me take far greater notice was what happened on 27 November 2006. The mayor of Andratx, Eugenio Hidalgo, was arrested, as was the director-general of land planning at the regional government. The trail from the corruption case which exposed Hidalgo was to lead to Jaume Matas, then the president of the Balearics. More or less all the corruption investigations since had their origins in Andratx. Investigators and judges began to make links; Urdangarin, Munar, Matas, you can trace them all back to that day eight years ago.
It is conceivable that fewer cases might have cropped up had it not been for the former attorney-general, Cándido Conde-Pumpido, seeking and appointing regional prosecutors to root out corruption and later creating the anti-corruption and organised crime prosecution service. In 2004 the Balearics got the first regional prosecutor, Juan Carrau, who instigated the case against Hidalgo, by which time he had been joined by the second prosecutor, the more celebrated Pedro Horrach. There are now four prosecutors in all.
As we are all too well aware, new corruption cases still arise with regrettable frequency. The prosecutors have greater powers, but they can't prevent corruption, only investigate it. Nevertheless, maybe these greater powers have had some deterrent effect or at least helped to improve the perception of corruption in Spain. The latest survey of corruption in 175 countries by Transparency International (TI) shows that Spain has improved three places since last year; it is ranked 37.
A director at TI, Alejandro Salas, has suggested that when economic times were good, corruption was hidden. Economic difficulties have brought about greater awareness and willingness to pursue the corrupt and a more open public and political debate about corruption. Hence why, one might suggest, Mariano Rajoy has been talking about the subject, but then Rajoy's pronouncements have tended to be reactive, as was the case with the now infamous "Spain is not corrupted".
Rajoy didn't actually say that "Spain is not corrupt". It was "is not corrupted". The semantic distinction is important, as it implies a corruption of recent times. But this is a view with which Alejandro Salas disagrees. "Corruption is not new in Spain. It is an historical phenomenon." "What strikes me is that corruption in Spain is very structural, very systematic. It is not just one party, not one government, not one province. It is impregnated into different sectors of society." Rajoy might be advised to take note of what Salas says, just as he might like to consider words that were spoken in 1993. "It is not politicians who are corrupt, but it is society that is sick." Who spoke them? Jaume Matas, who, in addition to having twice been Balearics president, was a colleague of Rajoy's in Aznar's national government. Matas was quoting a Spanish philosopher, José Luis Aranguren.
Gabriel Garcias is a professor of law at the university in Palma. He has said that "so long as there is no ethical or moral transformation in society, the law will solve nothing". I used this same quote in an article from 2010. The prosecutors have been prosecuting since then, but have they really had a deterrent effect? Maybe, but at the time I was quoting Garcias I was also quoting the Balearics spokesperson for the UPyD party, Juan Luis Calbarro: "The Balearics have the highest number of people who are corrupt or allegedly corrupt per square metre in Spain." Calbarro explained the link between politics and society thus: "businesspeople who are friends of certain politicians, businesspeople who assemble companies in order to receive adjudications decided by their political friends, as well as the wives, husbands, cousins and nephews of politicians".
Since the emergence of the Hidalgo affair in 2006, I have written some 70 articles with corruption as a central theme. The society-politics nexus has been a not uncommon aspect of these articles. Some might aver that politics are divorced from society at large. In terms of general society's distance from the political machinery and from decision-making, this is probably so, but society and politics are most definitely not separated in other ways. They are one and the same when it comes to corruption. Garcias and Calbarro said so in 2010. Salas now says so, and even Matas implied this twenty-one years ago.
The historical phenomenon of corruption to which Alejandro Salas refers can be found over the centuries. For example, the Inquisition was inherently corrupt on account of the need to fund and perpetuate itself, while the sham democracy from the later nineteenth century run by the local political bosses, the "caciques", was so corrupt that no one even sought to hide the fact. "Spain is not corrupted." It's a semantic error.
Showing posts with label Transparency International. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Transparency International. Show all posts
Thursday, December 04, 2014
Friday, December 06, 2013
When Friendship Is Not Corrupt
Spain has slipped to number 40 in the worldwide ranking of corruption by country issued by Transparency International. This is a ranking which is called the "Corruption Perceptions Index". The title is quite important. While it can be relatively straightforward to highlight cases of corruption - as with those which come to courts - it is less straightforward to make tangible the intangible, an underlying sense of corruption or of not. The perception of corruption.
Some reaction to Spain's fall to number 40 has been predictable enough. On one side, it is a clear consequence of highly publicised corruption cases and is therefore unsurprising. On the other side, it means little because every country is corrupt and Spain is no more so than any other. Both reactions carry elements of truth but where the latter is concerned, it is far too simplistic a reaction. It is also, in a sense, irrelevant. While Spain can see where it ranks in relation to other countries, comparison really isn't the issue. What is, is that there is a stronger perception of corruption in Spain than in many European (and other countries), and such a perception goes beyond the highly publicised cases; it has to, as corruption is a societal matter as much as it is a political one. The perception is, in effect, a measure of the totality of corruption: how pervasive it is or is not; how rooted within society's mores it is or is not.
We are familiar with the highly publicised cases in Spain, be they those related to the caso Gürtel, to the King's son-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarin, and (though only possibly) to Mariano Rajoy, supposedly the recipient of illegal payments, as noted in the ledgers of former Partido Popular treasurer, Luis Bárcenas. That Rajoy has not been charged with anything, and probably never will be charged, does not reduce the perception of corruption. Quite the opposite. It is the very fact that he has appeared in the Bárcenas ledgers which just adds to the perception.
Mallorca has been described as being one of the most if not the most corrupt parts of Spain, the result of the numerous corruption cases that have arisen, especially since the end of the Matas government and the fall of his one-time partners, the old Unió Mallorquina party. Jaume Matas, a former president, is a high-profile case, so he is another reason for the perception of Spain's corruption being as it is. But of the Matas-related cases to have been brought to court thus far, there is evidence of the wider pervasiveness of corruption, even if this is not evidence of what we might typically consider to be corruption or indeed what many people in Mallorca might consider to be less than fully appropriate. Money doesn't have to change hands. Positions of power do not have to be given. All that is needed is a favour, one born out of what might even be thought of as a societal acceptance of the power of friendship - the "amiguismo" network, a phenomenon which is very much more pervasive in Spain and Mallorca than it might be in other countries. It has to be more pervasive. If it were not, then why is it so often referred to when it is not elsewhere?
Matas has just been found guilty of having abused his position in order to secure a job for his wife. His defence was that he was only doing what any "father of the family" would do. He almost certainly believed he wasn't doing anything wrong. Everyone does the same, or so Matas would doubtless believe. Everyone might do the same if they were in a similar position which could be abused and have a similar network of friends of whom a favour could be asked. Not everyone does, and so no, not everyone does the same. Only some.
Maite Areal, Matas's wife, received a salary of 42,000 euros for a job she never carried out. She was on the payroll of the Valparaiso hotel in Palma, a hotel which forms part of the Grupotel chain. Its president and founder, Miguel Ramis, himself a former mayor of Muro who has been disqualified from public office, told the court he had agreed to Matas's request as a favour.
So here is an example of how inappropriate behaviour extends its tentacles into wider society, the business world in this case, and in so doing, it casts a shadow over how that business world and the political world actually operate and interact. It casts a further shadow into Mallorcan society because of connections that a large hotel chain might have. And indeed the court also heard from another Miguel Ramis, one-time mayor of Alcúdia, himself associated with hotels, the PP's Balearics spokesperson and the nephew of the other Miguel Ramis. The appointment of Matas's wife was one based on friendship not on politics, he told the court.
Wheels within wheels, friendships within friendships. Not obviously corrupt. Just how it is. Perceptions count for a great deal.
* For the record, and so by way of comparison, Spain is not the worst of the European countries which once formed the pre-Soviet/Balkans break-up, "democratic" Europe. Italy is 69th, Greece is 80th. The most virtuous of these countries are Denmark (first), Finland, Sweden and Norway (third, fourth and fifth), Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Iceland and, in fourteenth spot, the UK. Of non-European countries ahead of Spain are New Zealand (second), Singapore, Barbados, the USA, Chile, Qatar and Botswana.
Some reaction to Spain's fall to number 40 has been predictable enough. On one side, it is a clear consequence of highly publicised corruption cases and is therefore unsurprising. On the other side, it means little because every country is corrupt and Spain is no more so than any other. Both reactions carry elements of truth but where the latter is concerned, it is far too simplistic a reaction. It is also, in a sense, irrelevant. While Spain can see where it ranks in relation to other countries, comparison really isn't the issue. What is, is that there is a stronger perception of corruption in Spain than in many European (and other countries), and such a perception goes beyond the highly publicised cases; it has to, as corruption is a societal matter as much as it is a political one. The perception is, in effect, a measure of the totality of corruption: how pervasive it is or is not; how rooted within society's mores it is or is not.
We are familiar with the highly publicised cases in Spain, be they those related to the caso Gürtel, to the King's son-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarin, and (though only possibly) to Mariano Rajoy, supposedly the recipient of illegal payments, as noted in the ledgers of former Partido Popular treasurer, Luis Bárcenas. That Rajoy has not been charged with anything, and probably never will be charged, does not reduce the perception of corruption. Quite the opposite. It is the very fact that he has appeared in the Bárcenas ledgers which just adds to the perception.
Mallorca has been described as being one of the most if not the most corrupt parts of Spain, the result of the numerous corruption cases that have arisen, especially since the end of the Matas government and the fall of his one-time partners, the old Unió Mallorquina party. Jaume Matas, a former president, is a high-profile case, so he is another reason for the perception of Spain's corruption being as it is. But of the Matas-related cases to have been brought to court thus far, there is evidence of the wider pervasiveness of corruption, even if this is not evidence of what we might typically consider to be corruption or indeed what many people in Mallorca might consider to be less than fully appropriate. Money doesn't have to change hands. Positions of power do not have to be given. All that is needed is a favour, one born out of what might even be thought of as a societal acceptance of the power of friendship - the "amiguismo" network, a phenomenon which is very much more pervasive in Spain and Mallorca than it might be in other countries. It has to be more pervasive. If it were not, then why is it so often referred to when it is not elsewhere?
Matas has just been found guilty of having abused his position in order to secure a job for his wife. His defence was that he was only doing what any "father of the family" would do. He almost certainly believed he wasn't doing anything wrong. Everyone does the same, or so Matas would doubtless believe. Everyone might do the same if they were in a similar position which could be abused and have a similar network of friends of whom a favour could be asked. Not everyone does, and so no, not everyone does the same. Only some.
Maite Areal, Matas's wife, received a salary of 42,000 euros for a job she never carried out. She was on the payroll of the Valparaiso hotel in Palma, a hotel which forms part of the Grupotel chain. Its president and founder, Miguel Ramis, himself a former mayor of Muro who has been disqualified from public office, told the court he had agreed to Matas's request as a favour.
So here is an example of how inappropriate behaviour extends its tentacles into wider society, the business world in this case, and in so doing, it casts a shadow over how that business world and the political world actually operate and interact. It casts a further shadow into Mallorcan society because of connections that a large hotel chain might have. And indeed the court also heard from another Miguel Ramis, one-time mayor of Alcúdia, himself associated with hotels, the PP's Balearics spokesperson and the nephew of the other Miguel Ramis. The appointment of Matas's wife was one based on friendship not on politics, he told the court.
Wheels within wheels, friendships within friendships. Not obviously corrupt. Just how it is. Perceptions count for a great deal.
* For the record, and so by way of comparison, Spain is not the worst of the European countries which once formed the pre-Soviet/Balkans break-up, "democratic" Europe. Italy is 69th, Greece is 80th. The most virtuous of these countries are Denmark (first), Finland, Sweden and Norway (third, fourth and fifth), Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Iceland and, in fourteenth spot, the UK. Of non-European countries ahead of Spain are New Zealand (second), Singapore, Barbados, the USA, Chile, Qatar and Botswana.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
