01/04/2013 00:00
TW
0
By Humphrey Carter

PALMA
BAIL was set at a record three million euros for the former President of the Balearics and ex-Spanish government Minister, Jaume Matas yesterday morning.

Judge Castro, handling the Palma Arena hearing, accepted the prosecution's application for bail to be set so high and has given Matas a suspended period of 72 hours to deposit the money or face being held on remand in Palma prison.

Beacuse of the Easter holidays which begin today, Matas has until midnight on April 7 to meet the bail.
The amount of bail is the highest to have been set in Spain over the past decade and one of the largest ever for a former government minister and regional government leader.

PASSPORT SEIZED
In the meantime, the former Balearic President, who “temporarily” stepped down from the conservative Partido Popular Party on Monday, has had his passport seized indefinitely, is banned from leaving the country and has to report in person to the courts every two weeks.

Matas's brother-in-law and former Treasurer of the Partido Popular has also had his passport confiscated.
Jaume Matas, who was President of the Balearics from 1996-1999 and during a second term from 2003 to 2007, also served under Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar as Minister for the Environment. He resigned yesterday from PricewaterhouseCoopers in the United States for whom he had recently been working after moving to Washington and then New York shortly after losing the last regional elections.

Matas, who had been an active and high profile member of the PP for 17 years, faces a number of allegations including electoral fraud, misappropriating public funds, falsifying documents and tax evasion.

The judge was initially expected to set bail on Monday morning but needed more time to analyse the 59-page dossier the prosecution submitted on Friday.

Judge Castro also said that he required an extra 24 hours to reach a decision because of the importance and complexity of the case and the possible social repercussions his ruling could have.

Yesterday, leader of the opposition Partido Party, Mariano Rajoy, who on Monday accepted Matas's “temporary” resignation from the party, was refusing to comment on the judge's decision.

On Monday, Rajoy said that he wished Matas all the best “and hopes that, if he can, demonstrate his innocence.” Locally however, the judge's decision sent shock waves through the corridors of the Balearic parliament.
The leader of the Majorcan Unionist Party, Josep Melia, admitted that the amount of bail is high but claimed that the judge's decision “shows that the judicial system works.”