That's the end of the Balearic Islands Anti-Corruption Office five years after its creation. PP and Vox have voted in Parliament in favor of a law that eliminates within three months this body that was created as a result of the major corruption scandals that occurred in the Balearic Islands during the mandates of Jaume Matas at the head of the Government and Maria Antònia Munar and other members of UM at the Consell de Mallorca.
The PP deputy Mauricio Rovira has justified this suppression by saying that the Office is ineffective because there are already other institutions, such as the Prosecutor's Office, that are in charge of investigating the cases. Rovira explained that, during the year 2022, only eight files were closed in which only recommendations were made. He considered that these actions do not deserve the budget of 1.5 million euros per year that the Office has.
For opposition representatives, this decision returns the Balearic Islands to the worst years of corruption. Mars Pons (PSOE) regretted that the "omertá has not been banished" and assured that the decision of PP and UM is a setback in the democratic quality of the islands. "They are showing that they understand the idea that this is Sicily without deaths," he said.
Maria Ramon, Més deputy, recalled that the Balearic Islands have been known for years for corruption scandals. "Corruption is born from the feeling of impunity and the disappearance of the Office helps to maintain this idea," she said. Ramon has pointed out that the corruption cases have left a total of 276 implicated "in 20 black years."
The law that has been voted in Parliament not only eliminates the Anti-Corruption Office but also creates a registry in which the declarations of assets and interests of senior officials will be deposited confidentially, which will cease to be public with the approval of the law. . They can only be consulted at the request of the Parliament, the judicial bodies or the Sindicatura de Comptes de Balears.
In the explanatory statement, it is noted that the creation of the Office "lacked consensus among political forces and went beyond the necessary regulation of control mechanisms to apply the rules that regulate good administration, good governance and rules of conduct, as well as the management of records of interests, activities and assets".
It also points out that during its operation there has been "unnecessary duplicity" with the rest of the administrations and it has also been proven that finally the office "has become, in the best of cases, a mere processor of complaint files directed to other bodies, institutions or administrations such as the Prosecutor's Office and the Comptes' Sindicatura.
The suppression of this body has been approved in record time despite the fact that this decision was not in the agreement signed by PP and Vox. All the files that the Office now processes will become available to a registry of the Balearic Government.
