Spanish corruption prosecutor under fire
Spain's beleaguered top anti-corruption prosecutor Manuel Moix has admitted that he co-owns an offshore company in tax haven Panama but says he sees no reason for this to have any repercussions. Spanish commentators describe his behaviour as impudent and call for his resignation.
Resignation is the only option
There is no alternative to Spanish anti-corruption chief Manuel Moix's resigning, El Periódico de Catalunya believes:
“Moix remaining in his post is clearly unacceptable. If he tries to end the crisis with technical explanations that justify such anomalous behaviour the anti-corruption authority's credibility, which is so vital for its work, will be seriously undermined. … If those who are supposed to safeguard the common good at institutions created expressly for this purpose don't behave impeccably, no one should be surprised to see the citizens' scepticism regarding state powers (in this case the judiciary) growing.”
At the very least naive
Even the generally pro-government paper La Razón criticises the head of the anti-corruption authority Manual Moix:
“Even if the legality of this offshore company hasn't been questioned up to now and Moix's stake in it was declared, it is also a fact that he didn't inform his superiors about it before his nomination, and that is a decisive element. It may be that he didn't realise it was relevant because in principle 'there was no incompatibility' with the exercise of his office, but he was mistaken because the credibility of an institution like the anti-corruption authority is everything and demands maximum standards. To think that it would be regarded as normal for a public prosecutor to own shares in a company based in a tax haven like Panama is incredibly naïve, if not a blunder.”