18/03/2013 00:00
TW
0

Palma.—Guardia Civil units swooped on various council properties yesterday morning and confiscated boxes of documents during their search which lasted well into the afternoon.

The investigation was sparked by complaints made to the police by the PSOE Socialist party about the allegedly irregular hiring of staff to manage Calvia Radio station between 2003 and 2011 when Carlos Delgado, the current Minister for Tourism, was Mayor and vice-secretary of the ruling Partido Popular.

Sources close to the investigation said yesterday that the main focus of the probe, which involved an estimated 1.4 million euros, is into the hiring of the station manager.

According to the Socialists, the vacant position was not offered to the general public but filled “in house”.
Other sources have also revealed that the prosecution is looking into alleged claims of bribery, mismanagement of public funds, political favours and prevarication.

No arrests have been made but the raid has come as a severe blow to the Partido Popular and the party's Secretary General, Miguel Ramis, was clearly angry over yesterday's developments.

He complained that not everyone is being treated equally by the courts and that the PP is always in the line of fire, be it past of present legislatures.

Ramis also expressed his concern that the raids are also always carried out in front of massive media coverage and this has a highly negative repercussion on his party's image. “There are more important issues which should be being investigated,” he said.
However, he said that he and the party has full confidence in the security forces and the judiciary and that the process must be allowed to follow its course. In another development, Carlos Delgado was due to have attended yesterday's meeting of the Regional Chief Executive of the PP but apparently failed to show at the last minute.

Yesterday's raids could not have come at a worse time for the PP.
The Balearic President, Jose Ramon Bauza, is under fire from the opposition over his failure to have revealed all his business interests before running for President. The complaint is now with the courts and could cost him his position if the judge rules that there is a conflict of interests between his business commitments and his position as President.