I´M SORRY

BALEARIC tourism chief Joan Flaquer, pictured, apologised to Parliament yesterday for the visit to the Moscow strip club Rasputin by the former head of one of his departments and five other persons, during a promotional trip to Russia. But at the same time, he accused the opposition of defamation. Flaquer was appearing before the parliamentary tourism committee at his own request to inform on the trip to Russia in February by the government delegation headed by Balearic leader Jaume Matas and including various members of the Calvia council. During the trip, six people including Juan Carlos Alia, former director of the Balearic Tourism Institute (Ibatur), visited the strip club, and Alia later put the tab on his expense account. When the scandal broke, he refunded the money and resigned.
Flaquer insisted that he did not know the identity of the other people who went to the club, saying that he returned to the hotel after dinner.
The socialist members of the committee questioned Flaquer not only on the Rasputin visit but also the other expenses of the group, which came to 17'576 euros. Flaquer retaliated by criticising the expense accounts of the promo tional trips of the previous coalition government, accusing them of “tripling” the amounts. He also denied allegations that a meeting with the chairman of the Russian Golf Federation had been to favour the interests of the latter in the Balearics.