The President of the Balearic Parliament, Maria Antònia Munar, announced on Friday that she was to resign her post and retire from politics following accusations made against her by the former Councillor for Tourism, Miquel Nadal, in the 'Maquillaje' case.
The former President of the Unió Mallorquina party emphatically denied Nadal's accusations, saying that throughout her political career she had always acted legally and in accordance with political ethics. Nevertheless, she was resigning her seat in Parliament "with immediate effect".
Accusations
The former Vice President of the Island Council of Mallorca, Miquel Nadal (also UM), had appeared before a judge on Friday morning and stated that Maria Antònia Munar had handed him 300,000 euros, while they were in an official car, to purchase half the shares in Video U, one of the production companies under investigation in the 'Maquillaje' case for alleged misuse of public funds. Three former directors of the company blamed Nadal and Munar for the alleged irregularities committed during the previous parliamentary legislature; the authorisation of grants to people "close to" the UM party.
The former administrator of the production company, Miquel Oliver, made a fifteen-page written confession detailing operations carried out by Video U and the relationship with Munar and Nadal. This was corroborated by another former administrator, Ramon Rullán, and the administrator of Bahía Difusión (amalgamated with Video U), Luisa Almiñana. All three have been charged and appeared in court last Friday.
In the confession Oliver recounted that in 2004 he had started to look for partners or investors for Bahía Difusión as the company was facing difficulties following the decision of Jaume Matas (ex President of the Balearic Government) not to contract either Video U or Bahía Difusión. In mid 2004 Oliver rang the Island Director for Communication, Margarita Sotomayor, and later met Nadal, then Vice President of the Island Council of Mallorca, to explain the situation to them, following which Nadal indicated that he might be interested in purchasing 50% of the company's shares "in order to have a communications medium to promote his electoral campaign and that of the UM".
The purchase was completed with the payment of 300,000 euros in cash, following which Oliver ended his relationship with the company. According to him the deed was signed by Miquel Sard, the suspected front man for Nadal, and Victor Garcia, in Munar's case.
New President
The Balearic Parliament will elect a new President at the meeting scheduled for next Tuesday, 9th March, as Munar will not officially resign from the position until today, which is the first working day after her announcement on Friday.