Heads of tourism board and regional development agency in Murcia resign

Three Murcia politicians quit following 51 arrests in high profile corruption case

Despite protesting their innocence of all charges, three high-ranking regional government officials have resigned en bloc following their detention on Monday as part of investigations into alleged corrupt practices.

The three high-profile resignations have been tendered by Reyes Samper (until now the head of the Info regional development institute), Mariola Martínez (the head of the regional tourist board) and José Fidel Saura, who until this week was prominent in the regional government’s department of Industry, Tourism, Business and Innovation. All three insist that they are not facing any charges at the moment and were released yesterday after making statements following a wave of arrests nationwide. In a press conference today all three maintained that they have nothing to do with any improprieties, but following regional president Alberto Garre’s insistence on Monday that the reputation of his party will not be tarnished by those involved in judicial investigations, they have decided to resign from their posts.

Sra Samper told members of the press that the only relationship she has with Madiva, the company being investigated, is that a ten-page proposal for collaboration has been filed with the Info institute, and clarified that she is not under arrest or facing charges.

Sra Martínez, slightly more obtusely, says that she is resigning so that members of the public should not have any doubts over her, and that she is keen for official confirmation to be published that she is not involved in any fraud. She also confirmed that a contract for 24,000 euros was signed with Madiva last Friday, an expense in return for which the company was to “position” the Region of Murcia in the British market.

The proposal submitted by Madiva is described by Sra Martínez as “interesting and original”, consisting of putting facebook ads on sports related pages, which is anything but interesting and original, while Sr Saura points out that it is “miniscule” in the context of a fraud estimated at 150 million euros. ( “miniscule” it may be to her, but to hardworking companies who currently receive zilch for all their hard work as there is ”no budget” from the tourism department it’s the wages of two staff members for a year and would make a heck of a difference.)

The questioning of the three on Monday was part of the nationwide Guardia Civil operation in which 51 people were detained and questioned, among them the former PP party general secretary in the region of Madrid, Francisco Granados. Sr Granados is suspected of having led a network of politicians who received illegal commissions for their own personal gain, affecting contracts awarded for a value of approximately 250 million euros.

In reaction to the events in Murcia Joaquín Bascuñana, the central government delegate to the Region, has attempted to put a positive spin on the story. The “detention and questioning of high-ranking officials shows that State institutions are functioning correctly”, he says, and at the same time he requested patience and reminded the general public that there should be an assumption of innocence unless proven guilty.

Sr Bascuñana himself has recently been in the eye of a whirlwind of allegations in relation to the Novo Carthago case in Cartagena, and has received little charity at the hands of the regional media.

Image: The two directors resigning today. Copyrighted. Full or partial reproduction prohibited under copyright law. Efe Marcial Guillén