Guilty - Bonnie Raitt #Corrupció_politics (3)

"Inocent fins que es demostri lo contrari", una frase que sona molt bé a les pel·lícules americanes perque normalment resulta que el sospitos principal realment és inocent - si no és una pel·lí moderna on fan un "double-twist" i al final quan tots pensavem que era inocent, torna a demostrar la seva culpabilitat.

És una frase que té molt de sentit pels juristes, però per a mi, poca cosa, per no dir no res mateix. Que els politics, i cia, s'agafen a aquest eslogan per no dimitir ni marxar, pos, no és ni etic no correcte - perque la frase no és correcta. 

A vore, un cop que has comés algun delicte, ja saps tu mateix que ets culpable, tan si t'enxampen o no. Si un politic roba, menteix, enganya, o un funcionari es fa 200 fotocopies a la feina, o un conductor aparca damunt d'un pas de peatons, o .... tothom que fa alguna cosa malament, o és babarota, o sap ben bé que ho ha fet. Llavors, també sap que és culpable. Depenent del sentit de l'etica de cada u o de la gravetat dels fets, pos, cada u és lliure de fer el que vulgui després, però lo minim és saber tu, internament, que has estat trapella!

I precisament, un representant politic, en el qual hem depositat la nostra confiança per portar el pais o ciutat cap endavant, són els primers que, en saber que han actuat malament, haurien de marxar.

Despres, si la policia els poden enxampar i si acaben tenint consequencies legals (un diputat de Barnsley, Anglaterra, va passar 3 mesos al preso per haver cobrat 15.000 en despeses de manera irregular), pos, millor que millor. Però el primer pas, seria que actuessen com persones humans normals amb un minim de auto-respecte i respecte pels demés (i pel sistema democratic), i marxessen.

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Innocent until proven guilty. The "phrase of the month" over here in Catalonia. As more and more councillors, mayors, MPs, and so on, are being imputed or charged on counts of corruption, this phrase is coming to mean "so, until I am sentenced I will not give up on my role, salary, perks, pensions, political standing, and with a bit of luck the court case could take 10 years and meanwhile I'll stay where I am2. That is, whereas I'm sure in 90% of the civilised (!!) democratic world, the first whiff of a court case leads to resignations on demand, Catalan politicians are more bare-faced. 

But, the point is, outside of a court of law, "innocent until proven guilty" is a fallacy. From the very first moment you do something wrong, you know you are guilty. Or you're stupid. From politicians screwing the tax-payer, to people helping themselves to 200 free photocopies at work, or parking their car on a zebra crossing - the moment you do it, you know you've done it, whether you're caught red-handed or not. Obviously, depending on each person's moral values and the seriousness of the "crime" committed, each person will act differently - but the thing we all have in common, is that we all know when we've been naughty, don't we?

So, Mr Politician, don't wait for the police to come calling, or the judge to work his way round to you. If you've been a naughty man, at least show a bit of self-respect, and respect for those of us paying your wages, and leave office! If the full weight of the law does fall on you (a Barnsley MP went to jail for 3 months for fiddling his expenses), so much the better, but at least save a bit of dignity (for yourself and the system) and get out now.

Austin Powers #Corruption_and_spying (2)

Continuant amb el tema d'ahir, avui toca espies:

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Continuing with the corruption stories we mentioned in yesterday's post - So how do we know all this? Well, presumably the police are doing their bit but there's also lots of stories being leaked to the press - from people who probably weren't getting their "fare share" of the "slush fund" (new word there: "a fund for bribing public officials or carrying on corruptive propaganda"), or who've been caught and are trying to either blackmail their way out of trouble, or drag the rest down with them. For example, apparently the King of Spain's son-in-law has been on the fiddle for years, but being who he is, well, only his "business" partner was having serious problems with the law. Until he decided to squeal! Watch this space!

But all this fun and games has now taken a new twist into the realm of Austin Powers or Tom and Jerry.....

An ex-girlfriend (can you trust them? Who knows, but it makes for a good story!) of the son of the ex-President of Catalunya (following?), has declared that this respectable President's son, has been driving to Switzerland for years with a car-boot full of €uros in cash (presumably) on behalf of the political party (CiU) they belong to. And how do we know? Well, she has taken her story to the press and the police, but before that, she spilled the beans at a private meal with the leader of the Catalan PP party, hoping she'd make use of the story. She didn't, she says. But how do we know about the meal with the PP? Well, apparently the flower vase in the restaurant was bugged - a private detective firm was following the ex-girlfriend to see what  dirt she would come up with about CiU? Who paid the detectives? Apparently, the socialist party (PSC)! Confused? So are they, I imagine!

This has now all come out in the press and it turns out that the private eyes have been spying on all 3 parties (PP, CiU, PSC) for years, presumably under the orders of the parties themselves! It seems that some parties even pay for the detectives to spy on their own members or ministers!

And you wonder why Merkel is unsure about bailing us out!

The Letter - Box Tops #Corrupcio (1)

Fa una mica de mandra, però suposo que toca dir 4 cosetes sobre l'actualitat catalana i espanyola, sobretot pels visitants al bloc des de països amb menys xoriços. Un petit resumen, en anglès:

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Ever since Noah had to pay a 5% back-hander to get permission to build his ark, corruption and dodgy dealings have been linked to politics. That is not to say corruption does not exist in other walks of life (who slips the back-handers to the politicians?), but when it's the very people you have placed your trust in to run the country, well, it makes more of an impact when the s**t hits the fan.

Either the press and police are getting more efficient at finding corruption, or they are just bringing it out into the open, but either way, over the last few years it has been a rolling news story in Catalunya (and Spain). MPs, councillors, mayors, people in high places in public bodies, have all been caught with (presumably or not) their fingers in the pie. And nothing happens. Court cases drag on for years, trials run out of steam, deals are negotiated with the public attorney, small fines are paid and Nobody goes to jail, Nobody pays back the money they've fiddled (or wasted - I'd include all the cases of incompetent misuse of public funds too), and Nobody resigns. And most get voted back into power. 

Recent cases include the treasurer of the governing party in Spain, the right-wing PP party, who has millions of euros stashed away in Swiss bank accounts (proven), and has (apparently) been taking his share of the illegal cash commissions paid by private firms to the party, for favours or work. The other share, he (apparently - not proven yet, but quite clear) has been giving out to PP politicians in regular tax-free cash payments in brown envelopes. Including President Rajoy (supposedly).

Here in Catalonia things are not much better. The judges have just reached  a deal with one of the parties currently in the governmental coalition, whereby they have been proven to have received illegal funding and will get off with a fine, and a slap on the hand. A couple of mayors have also been taken in for questioning, one for receiving back-handers, another for (supposed) links with the Russian mafia. And so on. No one resigns. One of the (Christian-Democrat) politicians involved went as far as to say it's a "natural" habit for humans, as old as prostitution! Another said it was simply one of the special characteristics of the Spanish people!

The only thing I ever get in envelopes are letters, and bills.