PALMA
THE former conservative Partido Popular President of the Balearics and ex-Spanish government Minister for the Environment, Jaume Matas, has until midnight tonight to meet bail which was set at three million euros last week or face being held on remand in Palma prison.
Bail was set a week ago but, because of the Easter weekend Bank Holiday, the 72-hours was carried over to this week and the clock began ticking when the Balearics returned to work yesterday morning.
The prosecution in the case of alleged corruption in the construction of the Palma Arena velodrome, are pressing 12 charges against Matas - who actually served two terms as President of the Balearics.
The construction of the velodrome during Matas's last legislature ran nearly 70 million euros over budget and the anti-fraud prosecution has been on the trail of the allegedly missing millions for the past 18 months - during which time a series of high profile politicians, former government director generals, developers and constructors have been either questioned or arrested and subsequently released on bail.
The three million euro bail set for Jaume Matas was the highest ever for a politician in the Balearics and one of the highest in Spain over the past decade.
Matas's lawyer has lodged an appeal against the high figure and Judge Castro, who is handling the hearings, has agreed to study it. However, the midnight deadline still stands.
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