COUNCIL PHONE TAP CLAIMS

PALMA
THE conspiracy theories surrounding the alleged Andratx corruption scandal are growing thick and fast.
The Guardia Civil are still trying to unearth the alleged “mole” who may have tipped all the suspects off before the Serious Fraud Squad swooped last Monday. They arrested the former Mayor of Andratx, his planning inspector and the Balearic director general for planning, who has since been released with charges.

The political debate is raging over an alleged anonymous call made to the Balearic government last week claiming more conservative Partido Popular-run councils were to be raided.

Party leader, the Balearic president Jaume Matas is alleged by the Socialist Party opposition of having possibly shared “privileged information” with Hidalgo two days before the arrests, a claim he adamantly denies.

Now the spotlight has fallen on the Mayor of Palma, Catalina Cirer who over the weekend confirmed Partido Popular suspicions that at least five members of her council have their phones “tapped”.

Cirer is now under pressure from opposition socialists to identify those councillors whose phones are apparently tapped.
The socialists are also claiming that, should this be the case and that PP councillors are under investigation, it will only serve to raise suspicions about activities on Palma City Council.

Phone taps, moles, tip-offs, meetings and anonymous callers, all these issues are likely to be raised today when the Andratx corruption scandal is going to dominate proceedings in the Balearic parliamentary session.

All the opposition parties are expected to bombard the government, in particular the leader Jaume Matas, over the case and, if yesterday's meeting of the Council of Majorca is anything to go by, then a lively and eventful debate can be expected.

Council of Majorca opposition parties stormed out of the council chambers in protest over the decision by Maria Antonia Munar, president of the Council of Majorca, to not allow the scandal to be debated.

Apart from Matas, the PSIB-PSOE Balearic socialists, under the command of the former President Fransesc Antich, are going to attack the minister for Public Works, Mabel Cabrer in whose department the former planning chief Jaume Massot worked. Also under attack is Interior minister, José María Rodríguez, who is also the PP's regional party secretary general. He met Eugenio Hidalgo twice on the Saturday prior to his arrest.