Friday, May 15, 2009

It's Time For Camps To Talk

The Valencian regional president, Francisco Camps, has been assuring everyone for weeks that he is eager to tell the truth about his dealings with his "amiguito del alma". At the same time he has consistently avoided answering questions from jounalists or offering any kind of explanation in the Valencian parliament. Well now it looks like his wishes will be fulfilled, as he has to appear before the judge next week and not just as a witness. His amiguito will follow suit, if you'll pardon the phrase, a couple of days later. The big question I'm left with is what Camps will wear for the occasion? If I was him I would leave those expensive made to measure suits in the wardrobe and turn up with a simpler off the peg job or one of those fetching smocks that he puts on for religious processions. Camps seems to be relying on the judges of Valencia being sympathetic to the local political power, at least so far things are not going his way.

The past couple of weeks have not been tremendously good for those who claimed that Operación Gürtel was just a political case launched by Baltasar Garzón. In Madrid several of the politicians involved have now had to appear before the judge handling the case in that region, and bail of between 500,000 and 1 million euros has been the result; suggesting that the case they are facing is hardly trivial. Even the Partido Popular leadership finally got round to suspending the membership of the three members of the Madrid regional assembly who are on the list of the accused; and another PP politician potentially involved has been removed from the party's list for the European elections. The Madrid judge has agreed to let the PP participate in the case as part of the acusación popular, a strange situation given that several of their own members are amongst those accused. The state prosecutors are appealing that decision.

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