King of Spain condemns corruption, forgets about his sister

This video says about itself:

Spain’s corruption eruption

1 February 2013

In austerity-struck Spain, street protesters are screaming for the government to resign over the latest corruption scandal. At the head of the conservative People’s Party (PP), Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has said he will speak publicly on the matter on Saturday. It concerns allegations that members benefited from a slush fund fed by private companies for years.

Spain’s main rival newspapers, the liberal El Pais and conservative El Mundo flushed the story into the open two weeks ago, revealing excerpts of almost two decades of handwritten accounts that it said were maintained by People’s Party treasurers.

The papers said the accounts showed more than a decade of payments to Rajoy of more than 25,000 euros per year. This has undermined his reputation for honesty.

Former PP treasurer Luis Barcenas stepped down in 2009 when judges began to investigate his possible involvement in alleged illegal payments from builders and other businesses which won government contracts.

A PP source said the allegations, if confirmed, raise serious ethical questions especially because politicians granted large numbers of development contracts during Spain’s building boom.

…

The party said its payments to its leaders and staff were always legal.

Until recently, according to a PP source, Spanish political parties were allowed to receive anonymous donations, but they had to appear in the official accounts.

The alleged payments may therefore not necessarily be illegal, but the income would have had to be declared in tax statements.

Rajoy has been in office as prime minister for just over a year.

In many Christmas speeches by VIPs, one can hear about themes like togetherness.

Some VIPs also condemn some things in these speeches.

Eg, the predecessor of the present pope, Benedict XVI, abused Christmas for attacking gay people.

The present pope Francis I used (I would not say: abused) Christmas for attacking corruption in the Vatican hierarchy.

And now, to Spain; translated from NOS TV in the Netherlands:

Spanish king condemns corruption in Christmas speech

Yesterday, 22:06

During his first Christmas address, King Felipe of Spain has strongly condemned corruption. His own sister, Princess Cristina, is involved in a corruption scandal, but Felipe did not mention her.

Cristina should soon come to court for tax fraud, like her husband. It is the first time that a member of the Spanish royal family appears before a criminal court.

High level Spanish officials are allegedly involved in several corruption scandals. The cases cause outrage among the Spanish people, who have suffered severely from the economic crisis in the country.

In June this year, Felipe succeeded his father as king. Juan Carlos became less and less popular, partly due to the suspicions against his daughter Cristina.

This speech by King Felipe reminds me a bit of speeches by many politicians in which they praise peace in general, while in practice practicing militarism and war. And the speech by United States President George W Bush; in which he strongly condemned torture, while his administration strongly practiced torture all over the world.