03/04/2013 00:00
TW
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By Humphrey Carter

PALMA
FOMER Balearic leader Jaume Matas's “temporary” departure from the conservative Partido Popular party was given the green light by the leader of the opposition, Mariano Rajoy, yesterday with party insiders claiming it will give Matas the chance to concentrate on defending himself against a total of seven allegations which include misappropriating public funds, money laundering, falsifying official documents and electoral fraud.

At the end of last week, Rajoy was asked if the party was considering expelling the two-time former President of the Balearics and Spanish government minister, but yesterday morning Matas applied for permission to stand down from the party in which he has been an active and high profile member for 17 years.

Yesterday's development came as the judge presiding over the Palma Arena hearing on which Matas, his wife, brother-in-law and former Chairman of Gesa-Endesa power company in the Balearics, Bartomeu Reus, were questioned last week, announced that he needed another 24 hours to study the prosecution's appeal for bail to be set at a record three million euros for the former leader of the Balearics.

Over the weekend, Matas did have his passport confiscated, but yesterday, legal sources explained that, considering the complexity and importance of the case and its possible “social repercussions”, Judge Castro wanted more time. The question at the heart of the Palma Arena case is why the construction of the velodrome during Matas's former legislature ran nearly 80 million euros over budget and where that money was spent.

Matas, his wife, Reus and his brother-in-law, who was also a former treasurer of the Partido Popular in the Balearics, are the latest in a long list of high profile civil servants and politicians to have been questioned as part of the Palma Arena case. During his two-day court hearing last week, Matas denied any wrongdoing or direct involvement in the Arena construction project.

OFFICIAL COMPLAINTS
The ex-President said it was the then Director General for Sports, Spanish Olympic sailing gold medalist Pepote Baltasar who was responsible for making the decision regarding the Arena project.

However, the prosecution considers the allegations against Matas to be so serious that bail should be set at three million euros or he be held on remand in Palma prison for fear that Matas may try and skip the country or destroy evidence.

The allegations have been strictly contested by Matas's legal representatives who have lodged official complaints to the Palma courthouse over the way in which last week's hearings were carried out. The first day of the hearing was postponed after the prosecution submitted a series of tapped phone calls as late and unexpected evidence.

On day two, parts of Matas's statements were apparently transmitted by mobile phones to an online newspaper and on day three, statements made behind closed doors appeared in the local and national media. Matas's legal team were prompted to demand that the courtroom be changed amidst fears that it was bugged, preventing them from being able to defend their client properly and fairly.