Friday, July 04, 2008
Epicentres of coastal urban corruption
The Spanish judicial system, we're told, is currently dealing with 67 cases (so few?) of (alleged) urban corruption along the coasts, in which dozens of former mayors and councillors are implicated, as well as various real estate promoters.
Of those 67 cases, currently in judicial processing, a total of 527 people are implicated, 180 of whom hold public office. Persons in public office are involved in 47 of the cases, which, in practical terms, means that in 8 out of 10 cases, there is a political implication. Andalucía and the Canary Islands head the ranking of urban irregularities in the courts. (Something to be proud of?)
UPDATE: The following is an interesting quote on corruption... from Thomas Bata, a Czechoslovakian entrepreneur of the 1920's (Via Surviving Athens)
"Wealth can not exist where the people are busy with mutual cheating, have no time for creating values and wealth. It is remarkable that we can find the greatest number of wealthy tradesmen and a population on a high standard of living in countries with a high level of business morality. On the other hand, we can find poor tradesmen and entrepreneurs and an impoverished population in countries with a low standard of business morality. This is natural because these people concentrate on cheating one another instead of trying to create value."
Photo: iLotz via the Secret Tenerife group.
