The Spanish government floods chief, José María Ángel Batalla, has quit over fake CV claims. Eugene Costello reports on the latest political scandal…
The Spanish government floods chief, José María Ángel Batalla, has quit over fake CV claims. He was a senior government minister and a high-ranking member of the Socialist party. He became leader of the federal government’s Valencia commission, tasked with investigating last October’s DANA flood that cost the lives of 227 residents.
Batalla, 68, resigned when the the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation into his introduction to public service as a civil servant in the 1980s. This followed an investigation by El Mundo that found he had used fake credentials to enter the civil service four decades ago.
Batalla faced accusations of claiming a degree in archive studies from the University of Valencia, a course that the university say did not even exist at the time.
It comes at a time when both PSOE – the ruling socialist party – and the right-wing Popular Party (PP) are mired in scandals about both corruption and fake credentials.
Spanish practices?
Batalla’s resignation comes hard on the heels of Noelia Núñez, a senior member of the conservative opposition Popular Party (PP), who quit after falsely claiming to have three degrees. Núñez, 33, listed the qualifications on her CV, including a law degree.
However, she admitted to not completing any of them and resigned from her role as national vice-secretary of the PP and as an MP. She represented a young vibe, boasting of having 14 tattoos and a nose piercing. Sadly, it seems she also had a long and growing nose. Rumours that she is to get a new tattoo of pork pies are believed to be wide of the mark.
Miguel Tellado, secretary general of the PP, said: “I want to see their degrees today. No excuses. Let’s see if their studies are as genuine as they claim, unlike Sánchez’s fake thesis.”
Tellado also took aim at Transport Minister Óscar Puente for misleadingly suggesting he had completed a degree course, despite having not done so.
Yolanda Díaz, the deputy prime minister from the left-wing Sumar group, who removed three ‘fake’ master’s degrees from her own official bio in 2021, commented that she would gladly see a “cleaning lady” serve as minister without academic qualifications, criticising the elitism attached to higher education credentials.
Sanchez feeling the heat
It has inevitably reignited the controversy about Pedro Sanchez himself, accused of plagiarising large parts of his doctoral thesis.
He is also battling corruption claims after a police report showed his two successive right-hand men had allegedly systematically taken kickbacks on state contracts.
Sánchez dismissed Santos Cerdán as the ruling party’s number three in June. Cerdán, who also resigned as an MP, is the second politician in Sánchez’s inner circle under investigation for corruption. José Luis Ábalos, a former minister and Sánchez’s previous right-hand man, is also under investigation for allegedly receiving kickbacks.
It’s a family affair
His brother David Sanchez is to stand trial for alleged crimes of misuse of public funds and influence peddling.
A court in the southwestern city of Badajoz ruled that David Sánchez should face trial over alleged irregularities in the creation of a government job for him.
He resigned earlier this year as a regional music director after investigation for suspected crimes in connection with the job.
Family links to corruption are plaguing Sanchez. His wife, Begoña Gomez, is under investigation for being on the payroll of Globalia, which owns Air Europa. The airline received a €475-million lifeline from Sanchez’s government post-Covid in November 2020.
The Popular Party, which would normally jump on any excuse to take a rod to the Socialists, is not in any great position to talk. As well as Noelia Núñez’s resignation over her fake credentials, there have been several demonstrations in Plaza de Ayuntamiento in Valenica calling for the resignation of Carlos Mazón, the former Eurovision wannabe who is now the PP president of the Generalitat de Valencia.
There is great public anger over his actions the day the DANA hit when he was incommunicado at a long lunch with a female journalist to whom he was offering a job. This caused. him to arrive two hours late to an emergency meeting about the DANA, by which time people were already losing their lives.
Spanish politicians have rarely been held in high esteem but this latest round of corruption scandals and fake credentials has seen public confidence sink to a new low ebb.