PALMA
WITH the local elections less than two months away, the opposition Partido Popular has been caught up in another alleged political scandal involving the alleged misappropriation of public funds and the falsification of documents in Palma and Ciutadella, Minorca.
The focus of the anti-fraud prosecution is again on a tourism department, this time the Citur municipal tourism foundation in Ciutadella and its allegedly suspicious activities during the period 2003-2007 when the council was controlled by the Partido Popular.
Yesterday morning, members of the Guardia Civil fraud squad carried out raids in Palma and Ciutadella.
Six people have been arrested as part of the Operation Xoriguer (named after Minorca's famous gin) and a further four people implicated in the alleged scandal.
Among those arrested are the former Mayor of Ciutadella and former local Councillors for Tourism and Planning.
According to sources close to the case, Citur, was created by the ex-mayor, Llorenc Brondo, and it is the foundation which is being investigated for the misappropriation of public funds as well as how it went about awarding public contracts and concessions.
Apparently, the current council discovered 51 alleged irregularities relating to activities carried out by Citur and the municipal body handed a 100-page dossier over to the anti-fraud prosecutors in February of last year.
This latest development has not pleased the Partido Popular.
The Secretary General of the PP, Miguel Ramis, yesterday claimed that there are members of the Balearic judiciary, prosecution service and the police which are under the direct orders of central government. Ramis said that there appears to be a set of double standards because, for example, the governing Socialist Party in Madrid and the Balearics, has not been subjected to any investigations into alleged corruption, suggesting that the Partido Popular is the victim of a witch hunt.