Jaime Far, director of the anti-corruption office.

Jaime Far, director of the anti-corruption office.

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma11/01/2018 00:00
TW
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The anti-corruption office will start functioning next week and will operate from a room in the Balearic parliament building. The room is tucked away. It is not along the main passage and is reached by a staircase or lift. The location is temporary. It is expected that the office will move elsewhere within three months and not be in a government building. One of the purposes of the office is that it can receive complaints about the government.

The director of the office is Jaime Far, whose salary of 95,000 euros was the subject of debate in parliament. A second vote (a simple majority) was needed after the government failed to get backing for the salary with the initial qualified majority vote.

One of Far's first cases may be the Més contracts. The Partido Popular would like him to investigate these. The PP, meanwhile, remains partially critical of the anti-corruption office because of what the party sees as an overlap with the functions of the audit commission.

The anti-corruption office is an initiative of the current government. It should not be confused with the anti-corruption prosecution service. It will not have powers to prosecute, only to investigate and forward information to the prosecution service, courts or police.