The Anti-Corruption Office denounces the irregularities of the plus of 22,000 euros of government politicians

The Anti-Corruption Office denounces the irregularities and loopholes of the plus of 22,000 euros per year that the Government pays to its senior non-residents in Mallorca for residing on the island.

The body that directs Jaime Far yesterday sent a report to the Parliament in which he asks the Committee on Finance and Budgets to promote for this same year a review of the controversial article of the budget law that allows charging the famous plus. A complement that unleashed an intense internal controversy among the members of the Government to be denounced by Més per Menorca, but which was finally approved at the end of last year thanks to the votes of Psoe and Podemos.

Anti-corruption has been analyzing the payment of this prebend. And, although at the moment it has not detected evidence of crime or illegality sufficient to raise it to the Prosecutor's Office or the judicial or tax authorities, it does consider that there are a series of deficiencies, gaps and possible irregularities incompatible with the regular use of public money.

Specifically, the agency that directs Far has put on the table the need to change two essential issues.

In the first place, he considers that this complement for politicians (from which 19 senior officials of the Islands currently benefit) should have a maximum ceiling and not be a fixed and arbitrary amount of 22,000 euros, but, in any case, be paid only prior justification of the expense. To be able to collect it, it would be necessary to justify that this money has been used in an expense generated by the change of residence required by the assumption of public office. That is to say, and to give a practical example, that if a high position demands the payment of the rent of his house for having had to move to the island, he must justify the expense to the cent. And that in any case it is studied whether the payment should have a cap or be equivalent to a percentage.

Secondly, the Office created by the Parliament to fight corruption considers that the text of the law is inaccurate and ambiguous when setting the conditions to be able to charge it, since it does not correctly detail the concept of temporary residence, a requirement to be able to perceive. This causes situations of uncertainty and collides with the obligation that every citizen has to register where they reside , an important issue for their tax obligations.

It was a parliamentary initiative presented by Més per Menorca that caused months ago a whole political earthquake, which essentially affected 15 senior positions under the Government and another four more work in autonomous public companies, such as IB3, the Tourism Strategy Agency of the Islands Baleares, or the Balearic Agency for Water and Environmental Quality.

The bonus continues to be collected after the end of last year, Més per Menorca could not carry out a partial amendment to the budgets in the Parliament so that only the high positions whose official residence is in the Balearic Islands, and not the rest, would receive it from the country.

The proceedings on this matter, which caused unprecedented alliances between the various political forces, were initiated by the Anti-Corruption Office after possible irregularities were reported in the collection of said plus by some advisors of United Podemos. Thus, their partners from Mallorca, Ciudadanos and el Pi lined up with Més per Menorca, while they laid down the PSOE, Vox and Podemos initiative, whose leader Mae de la Concha assured “not being able to live” without the extra, despite enjoying a salary of 60,000 euros.

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