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FORMER Balearic President, Jaume Matas, his wife Maite Arreal, her brother Fernando Arreal and former Balearic minister and ex-Chairman of the Gas and Electricity Board (GESA) Bartomeu Reus will all give evidence in court next week at the same time in connection with allegations of a mis-use of public funds in the construction of the Palma Arena velodrome.

A judge had initially ruled that the four would be giving evidence separately but yesterday it was announced that all four would be questioned at the same time so that they would be unable to give-away any information to each other.

Matas now lives in the United States and he will be questioned over allegations that the budget for the Palma velodrome increased from an initial 30 million to 120 million euros. There are rumours that Matas and his wife will not show-up in Palma for the hearing because some of his supporters say that they will not get a fair trial as a result of all the media speculation.

Matas has said that he wants to clear his name and has said that he will be travelling to Palma for the court case.
Apart from being Balearic President, Matas, also served as a minister in the cabinet of former Spanish Premier Jose Maria Aznar.
His home in Palma has been raided twice by detectives as part of their probe into his finances. Matas was Balearic leader when Maria Antonia Munar was President of the Council of Majorca.