• Controversy: The opaque society with which the future Minister of Universities, Manuel Castells, contributed
  • Profile Manuel Castells, Minister of Universities proposed by Ada Colau: an academic fascinated by separatism

PP and Citizens believe that Manuel Castells will have to give explanations about the "opaque conference company" with which he paid if he is finally appointed Sunday as the new Minister of Universities of Pedro Sánchez, as announced by Moncloa .

It will be from that precise moment, when his appointment is official, when popular and oranges will take the "necessary measures" to claim to Castells that shed light on the doubts that there are about the operation of his company Strategic Thinking SL , with which there would be He has been billing from 2003 to 2017 his publications, conferences or participation in congresses, as published by EL MUNDO on Friday.

Thanks to this company, in which there was only one part-time employee, he could have obtained significant tax benefits when he should have billed all those professional services through the IRPF, where the tax burden is much higher.

"If Manuel Castells is finally a minister, he must give explanations about his company, something that we extend to Sánchez, who is the one who ultimately chooses him as a minister," authorized sources of the PP underline this newspaper.

"Sanchez said he would never have ministers with companies in his cabinet and he no longer flinched at the different cases of ministers with societies from his previous cabinet. Castells seems to bear the mark of Sanchez's team: to look for shortcuts to pay less," They point to these same sources.

Same scenario as with Huerta y Duque

Likewise, from Ciudadanos they point out that "problems" are repeated similar to those of other Sánchez ministers, such as Màxim Huerta or Pedro Duque . "No one can be surprised that the finger of Sánchez-Iglesias chooses ministers for the cabinet with problems with the Treasury. It is not the first time that happens nor would he be the prime minister under suspicion," say sources from the Citizens address, who they are waiting for the officialization of the post of minister of universities "to demand more explanations".

For the PP, "without celebrating the first council of ministers, this is already the government of chaos and doubts about one of its members." "It looks like a placement government, where little seems to matter that Castells has not explained its opaque conference company," they stress.

For the party led by Pablo Casado, the case of Castells "demonstrates" that Sánchez "does not seek exemplary people to hold positions of high responsibility." So they warn that the words of the PSOE on transparency "the wind takes them".

In Citizens also question the exemplarity of the PSOE de Sánchez. "Neither the Government nor its members have ever been characterized by their transparency or accountability," they point out.

So once you know "the complete list of armchairs of Sánchez-Iglesias", they will take the "necessary measures to ask for explanations for any irregularity".

The orange party also remembers that Castells has another "very serious" issue behind him to be a minister of Universities and that "he had no qualms about spreading a fake news about Albert Rivera in an article."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Citizens
  • PP
  • Manuel Castells
  • Personal income tax

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