Two more key witnesses gave evidence in the Palma Arena scandal last week, as pressure on the former Balearic President, Jaume Matas, continued to build.
Rosa Estaras, former vice-president under Matas and current PP euro-diplomat, was first to take the stand, during an appearance which lasted more than three hours. During her statement she revealed how it had been unanimously decided to build the velodrome in the capital back in 2005 after Palma was given the chance to host the World Cycling Championships. She said the project was given top priority by the former President, who personally took control of the construction process. Likewise, she claimed the decision to let the director general of the Government’s sports commission, Jose Luis Ballester, take the reigns of the project had been made by the former president.
She claimed her signature had been forged on a number of documents involved in the project, which eventually ran €50 million over budget. However, she admitted she had signed other papers “without reading the content”, because she trusted Matas. She finished by claiming she was not surprised the costs of the project had run over, saying this was quite normal with public projects.
Later Maria Rosa Puig took the stand, and while revealing she was a member of the committee which was supposed to oversee the construction of the velodrome, admitted she had never turned up to any meetings, and was unaware of who took the decisions relating to the project.
