The Parliament of the Balearic Islands approved a law on Tuesday, pushed by the PP, to dissolve the Office for Prevention and Fight against Corruption on the island with the agreement of Vox, making it the first autonomous community to eliminate such an organization. The closure of this agency, included in the Transparency and Control of Public Officials law, was expedited by the Government of Marga Prohens, who believes the entity is “an invention of the PSOE” that “has never worked and does not work”. The Socialists, who denounce the closure of the office as increasing the sense of impunity, are considering appealing the suppression to the Constitutional Court. Vox has announced its support for the end of this corruption-fighting organization.
The spokesperson for the PP in parliament, Sebastià Sagreras, defended the closure of the Anticorruption Office because it is an entity that “has never worked and does not work”, while lamenting that it was created by the PSOE “as a mud-slinging machine against opposition parties with exorbitant salaries for its employees, but when [investigations] put the PSOE in the spotlight, they would hide the issue.” The PSIB-PSOE, however, has warned that the transparency law eliminates the sanctioning regime, increasing the sense of impunity, and makes the insular Government both judge and party by assuming the processing of complaints and claims in a department dependent on the Presidency Ministry. This issue and others have led the Socialists to study the possibility of appealing the law to the Constitutional Court. The possibility of an appeal to the Constitutional Court has led Vox’s spokesperson in the Parliament, Idoia Ribas, to believe that it will not have “much room” because the Anticorruption Office is not an organ foreseen in the Constitution or the Statute. “Just as the Parliament created it, it can close it,” she said, before describing the possible measure as a maneuver by the PSIB to delay proceedings.
Ribas has anticipated Vox’s favorable vote on the transparency law, arguing that it has been proven that the Anticorruption Office, in addition to being redundant, has been “ineffective and inefficient.” The spokesperson for MÉS per Mallorca, Lluís Apesteguia, has also commented on this issue, stating that he prefers to wait until the plenary of this Tuesday, when before voting on the law, a vote will be held at the request of Més per Menorca to ask the Consultative Council for a report on the law, which the spokesperson for the Menorcan party, Josep Castells, has described as a “botch job.” The suppression comes on the same day that the Prohens government is immersed in a procedure to reclaim the money paid for masks from a company under investigation by the National Court in the so-called Koldo case. The president of the Government, questioned this morning in Parliament by the PSIB, has reiterated that the appeal process has not expired and has argued that giving up is not related to deadlines but to the difficulties of the case prospering, precisely because of the conformity certificate signed by the previous Government. “This certificate is the defense of the company in the scandal,” the president said.
The government does not settle for the initial 2.6 million euros difference but opts for the nullity of the contract to recover the total amount. “The only thing that has expired are the masks,” she concluded. The decision to dissolve the Anticorruption Office has sparked debate and controversy within the Balearic Islands Parliament, with different parties expressing their views on the matter. While the PP and Vox support the closure of the agency, citing its inefficiency, the PSIB-PSOE has raised concerns about the law’s impact on transparency and accountability, leading them to consider appealing to the Constitutional Court. The issue has also been complicated by the ongoing case involving the government’s attempts to reclaim money from a company involved in a corruption investigation. However, the government remains determined to pursue the nullification of the contract to recover the full amount. The outcome of this legislation and the related controversies will likely continue to be a point of contention within the region.
