This 26 November 2014 video is called Spain Health Minister Ana Mato quits over ‘benefits’ from kickback scheme.
One should hope that other corrupt politicians in the present Spanish government, including the Prime Minister Rajoy, and corrupt royal family members, should go the same way as Ms Ana Mato today.
From The Local In Spain:
Health minister steps down over graft probe
26 Nov 2014 20:13 GMT+01:00
Spain’s health minister Ana Mato resigned on Wednesday after a judge ruled she had benefitted from alleged illegal dealings carried out by her former husband as part of Spain’s infamous Gürtel kickbacks scandal.
Mato’s resignation came after a judge investigating an alleged kickback scheme at the heart of the Spanish prime minister’s conservative Popular Party ruled on Wednesday that there was enough evidence to try over 40 people for corruption.
The massive bribes for contracts scheme, known as the “Gürtel” case, allegedly extended to six regional Popular Party governments and operated between 1999 and 2009, when the investigation began.
High Court judge Pablo Ruz “has concluded the backbone of the investigation of the so-called ‘Gurtel’ case and understands that there is enough evidence to put in the dock 43 people,” the court said in a statement.
Among the 43 are three former treasurers of the Popular Party and Jesus Sepulveda, the former mayor of Pozuelo de Alarcon, an upscale Madrid suburb, whose former wife Ana Mato was Spain’s health minister.
While Mato has not been named as an official suspect in the case, the judge concluded she “benefited from, alone or in the company of other members of her family unit”, the holidays, cash payments and other gifts allegedly given to her ex-husband and was therefore civilly liable.
On Wednesday evening, Mato bowed to pressure to resign. In a statement, she said she was doing so “in order not to damage the government or her party”.
That retirement came in the wake of intense pressure from some sections of the party for her to step down to avoid a situation where she would be photographed alongside Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy during a parliamentary session on Thursday looking at measures designed to fight corruption, Spain El País newspaper reported.
Spanish media have reported that businessmen involved in the Gürtel scheme paid for designer goods, first communion celebrations and even clowns and confetti for children’s birthday parties for the minister and her daughter in exchange for kickbacks.
The judge will determine the exact amount of the gifts which she may have benefited from “shortly” and she may be summoned to appear in court.
Mato was one of the least popular members of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government. She was harshly criticized for her handling of the case of a Spanish nurse who became infected with Ebola after caring for two elderly missionaries who died from the disease at a Madrid hospital.
The Gürtel case is one of a series of high-profile corruption scandals involving politicians of all political stripes, businesses, football clubs and even the king’s sister.
Corruption is the biggest concern for Spaniards after unemployment, according to a recent poll by the Centre for Sociological Investigations.
Ana Mato is the second Spanish minister to resign in recent months after former justice minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón stepped down in September over his failure to push through tough new abortion laws.
Reblogged this on Oxtapus *blueAction.
LikeLike
Pingback: Dib British politicians abuse, kill children in 1979? | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Cinematic whitewashing of Egyptian history | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Big anti-government protest in Spain | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Spanish government’s corruption scandals | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Spanish board games about politicians’ corruption | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Spanish ex-ruling party treasurer jailed for 42 years? | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Terrorism in Europe, blowback from neo-colonial wars | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Spanish government attacks democracy | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Call for anti-austerity general strike in Spain | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Spanish prime minister’s corruption update | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Spanish ex-IMF boss arrested for money laundering | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Spanish Prime Minister Rajoy’s corruption scandal | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Big anti-corruption protest in Madrid, Spain | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Spanish corrupt Prime Minister Rajoy’s downfall soon? | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Spanish corrupt right-wing minority government, buh bye! | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Spanish Rajoy, buh bye as party leader | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Spanish government attacks free speech | Dear Kitty. Some blog