Since Jordi Pujol revealed millions in unpaid taxes, the family's crisis has snowballed to the point that it could pick up everything in its path, including Artur Mas. The leader of Catalonia knew about the tax evasion and, as we reported yesterday, the real estate company Realia gave Jordi Pujol's youngest son access to a low-rent apartment.
Curiously, even though the building is in a well-off area with ocean views, Mas gave it VPO status (Spain's classification for low-income subsidized housing) just six weeks before Mireia Pujol moved in. Does anyone think that was a coincidence? After finding out what happened, it's hard to believe that Pujol was able to pull this off in addition to a long list of other tricks to avoid taxes and give cushy benefits to his children. Especially since Realia owned the property and Realia is owned by FCC, which is headquartered in Barcelona.
In Catalonia, people are still numb to the fact that the man who led the Catalonian government for 23 years was defrauding the Finance Ministry the whole time and that being in office for so long allowed him to turn a democracy into a political system rife with cronyism and theft. The man that was said to have a "clear conscience" has asked for forgiveness, but it's already too late for him and perhaps for Artur Mas, too. Tomorrow he will meet with Rajoy.
Mas says that this is a personal story, but the sad part is that it is also a Spain story. In other words, there are many Pujols in Spain. A judge should investigate whether there was really an orchestrated effort to get preferred treatment for both Realia and Pujol.
