Panama Papers scandal hits World Bank nomination
Panama Papers scandal hits World Bank nomination
THE MOSSBACK FONSECA scandal has raised questions about the proposed appointment to the World Bank.of Spain’s former Minister of Industry, José Manuel Soria,
Soria resigned in April after being named in the “Panama Papers”
The decision has sparked angry reactions against the government of the Popular Party (PP whose image has deteriorated for its involvement in numerous cases of corruption uncovered in recent years.
On Saturday, Sep 3, the Socialists and the leftists called for urgent explanations in Parliament by the Minister of Economy, Luis de Guindos.
In a statement issued late Friday, the Ministry of Economy announced that it has selected the former minister of the conservative Popular Party to occupy one of the 25 seats of executive directors of the World Bank, based in Washington.
The text referred to his “extensive experience” and his “history of public service.”
The period of office runs from next November 1 to 31 October 2018.
It is a position that Spain shares with Mexico, Venezuela and five Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua).
The statement points out that the candidacy of Soria and the other executive directors proposed should be voted by the 189 governors of the World Bank.
Soria left the interim government of Mariano Rajoy in April when his name surfaced as manager since 2002 of a firm domiciled in the tax haven of Jersey in the leaked documents fom Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.
The decision has been lambasted by the centrist Citizens, who this week agreed to an unsuccessful investiture agreement with the President of the outgoing government Mariano Rajoy, including anti-corruption measures.
” Rajoy, unashamedly … proposes a minister who resigned for having money in tax havens” said the leader of Citizens, Albert Rivera, in an election rally in Vitoria before the Basque regional elections September 25.
He added that “the PP will have to give explanations of the inexplicable in Congress.”
The socialist leader Pedro Sanchez said from Galicia that in view of this, “Rajoy has no remedy,” and accused him of being the “principal responsible for corruption cases that embarrass the whole of the Spain and the Spanish”.
“They have no shame. The punishment of Soria for his roles in Panama, a place of luxury in the World Bank. A total provocation,” he wrote on Twitter.
Maria Dolores de Cospedal, general secretary of the PP, argued that Soria is “the most suitable person” for his profile as an economist and his experience.
