Judge Alaya put a 30-million euro bond on Magdalena Álvarez after accusing her of fraud and mismanagement of Andalusian public funds. The bail, which aims at recouping most of what Álvarez stole, underscores the European Investment Bank's lax ethical code. Álvarez was vice president at the EIB.
It's also embarrassing that last October the Andalusian government and the District Attorney's office looked the other way and did not require, as Manos Limpias did, some sort of bail. Makes you think about what kind of shady deals that the Peoples' Party and the Spanish Socialist Workers Party have to clean up their tracks without the evidence going public or giving up their big positions. Given all that has happened, Álvarez should step down from the EIB.