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STAFF REPORTER

PALMA
THE City Council said yesterday that it has come across a number of “irregularities” in the way the Municipal Funerary Services have been run and that the matter is being put in the hands of the judiciary.

The news was broken by the present vice-president of the Funerary Service, Andreu Alcover who is also a Mayor's deputy in tax matters. Alcover was speaking after the arrest yesterday morning of Oscar Collado who was the funeral company's managing director during the previous Balearic Partido Popular (PP)government, and a second unidentified person. Alcover said however, that for the moment, there is no certainty that the arrests relate to documentation handed over to the judiciary by the City Council.

Alcover explained that the investigations into the way the funeral service company was handling its accounts was triggered by a scandal surrounding private journeys undertaken by Collado and the ex president of the Municipal Funerary Services Company, Marina Sans, which were paid for with public money of over 7'000 euros.

On this point, Alcover stressed that the ruling government team on the Council has always acted with “discretion” on matters of third party involvement. He insisted that the Council does not know the specific reason why the two arrests have been made nor what charges are being levied against the detainees. “Our action has been limited to handing over documents which contain alleged irregularities to the judiciary,” he confirmed.

Meanwhile, Social Welfare Councillor at City Hall, Eberhard Grosske, called for someone to take political responsibility for the case. He pointed out that Palma's “Bloc” coalition to which he belonged had, as long ago as February this year, condemned in court the private journeys that Oscar Collado and Marina Sans had taken with public money.