Spain unveils assets of top ministers, officials
September 29, 2018
The Spanish government on Saturday unveiled the assets of more than a thousand high-level officials, including 38 current and former ministers, as part of a drive to increase transparency in the government.
The list, published in the official gazette, included three millionaire ministers in the Spanish Cabinet.
Topping the list was the foreign minister, Josep Borrell, who declared wealth of €2.77 million ($3.22 million). He was followed by the education minister and government spokeswoman, Isabel Celaa, with a reported wealth of €1.62 million.
"This government is really moving forward on the path of transparency, which it believes is the only way to advance in democracy," Celaa had said on Friday when the publication of the list was announced.
Another millionaire on the list was the science minister, Pedro Duque, a former astronaut, with about €1.5 million in assets. Duque is accused of not paying some taxes on his two homes. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Series of corruption charges
Duque's colleague in the Cabinet, Dolores Delgado, who heads the Justice Ministry, is also in the spotlight for meeting a former police chief accused of corruption. The meeting was revealed in leaked recordings of her conversations with the officer.
In June, the culture and sports minister, Maxim Huerta, stepped down within days of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government coming to power, after it emerged that he had been fined for evading taxes when he was a television presenter 10 years ago.
Earlier this month, the health minister, Carmen Monton, quit after reports of irregularities in her master's degree.
Sanchez came to power in June after his predecessor Mariano Rajoy lost a confidence vote in parliament following a corruption scandal that saw officials from his Popular Party (PP) sentenced.
Sachez declared assets to the tune of €343,000 and liabilities of €192,000.
Rajoy is a millionaire with €1.54 million in assets.
ap/jm (AFP, EFE)