Success Stories, Spanish Style
If any one person embodies the spirit of get-rich-quick Spain that was the essence of this country in the 1980's, that person is Mario Conde. He is the son of a Customs officer who has become a lawyer, economist, and one-time politician. He went from having a brilliant record at the Universidad de Deusto, to becoming the youngest president of the disappeared bank, Banesto, to being arrested and condemned for fraud and misappropriation. This week he has just been arrested for money laundering.
His problems began while he was the president of Banesto. The bank began failing, and government inspectors wanted to know why. When they found out money was missing, they discovered that Mr. Conde had helped it to disappear. In various trials, between 1994 and 2002, he was condemned to different prison terms that amounted in all to twenty-six years, of which he spent in prison only five and a half. The money that had disappeared (a hefty amount of various millions of euros) remained missing in action. This week, some of it has been discovered. It seems that about thirteen million euros had been ferreted away by Mr. Conde in at least eight different countries. Slowly, he had been bringing the money back into Spain, using a small cosmetics firm he set up as a cover for the money transfers. Unfortunately for him, someone made a mistake on one of the transfers, and Hacienda was alerted.
But, between trials, he has been writing and selling books and presenting himself as someone who has been badly treated for being successful. He's also run for public office, but since he got on the ticket of small parties, he got nowhere. He was just a little bit too toxic for the bigger parties to take him on.
Someone who is more representative of entrenched money and status is the Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism, José Manuel Soria. His father was a businessman who exported fruit from the Canary Islands, where they are from. With his father begins the story of the company set up in Panama, which, after pulling at a little thread, has unravelled to show that the Minister has been the owner of offshore companies that began in Panama and ended up on the island of Jersey, where more offshore companies are registered than the island has inhabitants.
Even though he had been tarnished by urbanistic misdoings while mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, because he was affiliated to the conservative party Partido Popular (PP), he was named Minister of Industry. Now, it seems he has also tried to avoid paying taxes to the country he was supposedly serving. And may even have been alerted when Hacienda began sniffing close to his Jersey company. He got rid of it when another company it was affiliated with was being investigated. Mr. Soria has denied all wrong-doing and has claimed he has always paid his fair share. He has been supported by his co-religionists in the PP until today, when the Jersey company said hello. Since Spain is not Iceland, he has not yet stepped down nor been asked to do so. And I doubt very much he will do so, seeing as there will probably be elections in June, again.
With people like these setting examples, they still expect the simple people to comply with their civic duties?
His problems began while he was the president of Banesto. The bank began failing, and government inspectors wanted to know why. When they found out money was missing, they discovered that Mr. Conde had helped it to disappear. In various trials, between 1994 and 2002, he was condemned to different prison terms that amounted in all to twenty-six years, of which he spent in prison only five and a half. The money that had disappeared (a hefty amount of various millions of euros) remained missing in action. This week, some of it has been discovered. It seems that about thirteen million euros had been ferreted away by Mr. Conde in at least eight different countries. Slowly, he had been bringing the money back into Spain, using a small cosmetics firm he set up as a cover for the money transfers. Unfortunately for him, someone made a mistake on one of the transfers, and Hacienda was alerted.
But, between trials, he has been writing and selling books and presenting himself as someone who has been badly treated for being successful. He's also run for public office, but since he got on the ticket of small parties, he got nowhere. He was just a little bit too toxic for the bigger parties to take him on.
Someone who is more representative of entrenched money and status is the Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism, José Manuel Soria. His father was a businessman who exported fruit from the Canary Islands, where they are from. With his father begins the story of the company set up in Panama, which, after pulling at a little thread, has unravelled to show that the Minister has been the owner of offshore companies that began in Panama and ended up on the island of Jersey, where more offshore companies are registered than the island has inhabitants.
Even though he had been tarnished by urbanistic misdoings while mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, because he was affiliated to the conservative party Partido Popular (PP), he was named Minister of Industry. Now, it seems he has also tried to avoid paying taxes to the country he was supposedly serving. And may even have been alerted when Hacienda began sniffing close to his Jersey company. He got rid of it when another company it was affiliated with was being investigated. Mr. Soria has denied all wrong-doing and has claimed he has always paid his fair share. He has been supported by his co-religionists in the PP until today, when the Jersey company said hello. Since Spain is not Iceland, he has not yet stepped down nor been asked to do so. And I doubt very much he will do so, seeing as there will probably be elections in June, again.
With people like these setting examples, they still expect the simple people to comply with their civic duties?
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