Editorial: Tough on corruption

FOR once I agree with Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, Spain is not a corrupt country. There are thousands of politicians up and down the country who are doing an outstanding job and give politics a good name. Unfortunately, the Spanish political barrel had quite alot of bad apples.  These bad apples are only now coming to light giving the impression that corruption is rife across the country. But my agreement with the Spanish Prime Minister stops there. I think he could have done alot more to fight corruption. One of the proposals on the table was an all-party plan to fight corruption but in the end Rajoy´s Partido Popular and the Spanish Socialist Party were unable to reach an agreement. At a time when Spanish politics are in the spotlight and the two main parties are facing the threat of the new protest party, Podemos, you would have thought that they would have attempted to reach an accord. I also believe that any local official found guilty of corruption should have to repay the money he or she allegedly stole. But one of the biggest problems is the length of time the judiciary takes to bring these cases to trial. There are literally hundreds of officials who have been charged with wrong-doing, in some cases they have gone to prison but they are still awaiting trial. The justice system in Spain needs to be swifter and have the necessary resources to deal with these cases. Corruption is a dirty word and Rajoy should stamp it out.