In recent years, there is also the eruption of political corruption as one of the three main issues that people perceive to be affecting the country. That so much corruption is seen as taking place in the country was noted in qualitative research on the subject two months before the first outbreak of the Indignados movement: “Political Corruption in Spain” – CIS Study #2863 (also see the Spanish online newspaper Publico.es: http://www.publico.es/españa/413926/un-gobierno-con-los-lobbies-dentro).
The information collected by this study shows that corruption is socially considered a very serious problem, associated with behaviors of politics and politicians, rather than as a result of the political system per se. But it is not viewed as the single problem of the country. Others pointed to the economic crisis, unemployment, or immigration, and these issues equally hold a prominent place in the discourse of citizens.3
In that sense, we can speak of the “embodiment of corruption,” which damages the image of politicians, but which is not generalized to the political class. Prevailing are feelings of arbitrariness, complicity, impunity, and ultimately helplessness and resignation among the population.
In June 2014 King Juan Carlos abdicates. He is pressured by judicial investigations for his own misuse of government funding for hunting trips in Africa, and of a military rescue helicopter and air transport when he breaks his collarbone while hunting elephants with his German princess-mistress.
Then there are corruption charges of further misuse of public funding by his daughter and son-in-law. The sister of the new King Felipe VI, Princess Cristina, was indicted and tried in 2014/15 for tax fraud and money laundering, making her the first member of the royal family to be tried in court for fraud. In January 2016, she and her husband Iniki Urdangarin – former Olympic handball player and board member of the non-profit consulting firm NÓOS – are tried in court again. NÓOS organizes sports and tourism conferences. Both husband and wife were indicted for skimming off government contracts that they “arranged” to come to NÓOS. As a result, she and her husband are stripped of their titles as Duchess and Duke of Palma. Cristina remains sixth in line to the Spanish throne, a right only she can relinquish.
In September 2014, Isidoro Álvarez dies. He has been the president of “El Corte Inglés,” the largest Spanish shopping center. His nephew Ditmas Gimeno succeeds him. Gimeno is linked to the JONS Falange of Primo de Rivera and Franco.
Prime Minister Rajoy’s Cabinet includes:
• Cristóbal Montoro, Minister of Finance, founder of a major consulting firm that advised companies on how to legally minimize revenue payments to the Spanish Treasury.
• José Ignacio Wert, Minister of Education, linked to the Grupo Prisa, which owns the leading publisher of school and university textbooks, and has been an advisor to the BBVA Bank.
• José Fernández Díaz, Minister of Home Affairs, who is very close to Opus Dei.
• Pedro Morenés, Minister of Defense, formerly Secretary-General of the Association of Businessmen. He was counsel to Instalaza, principal Spanish manufacturer of cluster bombs. He also served as counselor:
◦ to MBDA, a large missile manufacturer; as well as
◦ to Aritex Cading military design services; I-Sec Iberia security consulting; and Gamo Outdoor, a large American manufacturer of rifles and pistols; part of the executive presidency of Segur Ibérica, a private security corporation;
• Miguel Arias Cañete, Minister of Agriculture and Environment, who has large shares and interests:
◦ in the petroleum company Ducal SL controlled by his brother;
◦ in another petroleum company Canarias, SA; as well as
◦ in the Santander and BBVA banks.
He has chaired the RACE Foundation which encourages the use of automobiles and brick. His wife Micaela Domecq and her family have received funds from the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union. He has recently been appointed as European Commissioner for Energy and Climate Action.
Further, in September 2014, Emilio Botin, president of the powerful Santander Bank – with many formal and informal interlocks with the commanding heights of Spanish political economy – died at the age of 79 of a heart attack. His daughter Ana Patricia Botin inherited the presidency of Santander Bank. Emilio’s last worries reportedly were with the rise of Podemos and the Catalonian and Basque secessionist movements.
In November 2014, Popular Party (PP) Health Minister Ana Mato was forced to step down over corruption charges that she personally profited from her ex-husband’s alleged crimes while he was a mayor of a Madrid suburb (Pozuelo de Alarcón). The charges involved allegations of kickbacks for contracts, money laundering, and tax evasion.
By March 2015, three former treasurers of the ruling Popular Party were among 40 indicted (El Pais, 26/27 November 2014 and 6 March 2015).
On 15 April 2016, The Guardian, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal report (citing a report in Confidencial) that the Panama Papers Scandal has claimed yet another member of Rajoy’s Cabinet. This was a scandal reported by the Süddeutscher Zeitung of over 11.5 million leaked docuents detailing financial and attorney-client information of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, the fouth largest in the world with 600 employees in 42 countries. The allegations were that the law firm’s business was primarily in shell companies, tax havens, and off-shoring investments to conceal wealth in places like Jersey, the Seychelles, and the Bahamas. The Minister for Industry, Energy and Tourism, José Manuel Soria, resigned days before he was to appear before the Congress about his links to an offshoring company in the Bahamas. Documents indicate that he was one of two directors of a Jersey-based company called UK Lines Ltd – now called Jersey Mechanical Trading Ltd – dealing with agricultural goods produced from the Canary Islands where he is a local PP leader.