🎁 This Week in Spain: Sánchez's Nightmare Before Christmas

Also: A legendary actor dies, Don Jr. drops by and a new members-only club in town.

Dec 19, 2024

By @IanMount and @AdrianBono | December 19, 2024 | Madrid | Issue #83

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🥜 This Week in a Nutshell: Hey, we didn’t come up with that “nightmare before Christmas” headline. The PP’s Cuca Gamarra did, in reference to all the court cases affecting Prime Minister Sánchez directly or indirectly this week and the next, and we have to admit it’s pretty clever.

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The Nightmare Before Christmas

PM Pedro Sánchez & the PSOE are facing enough corruption cases to ruin anyone’s holiday spirit

The last week before Christmas 🎄 is full of joy—for most people. There’s picking up gifts, enjoying holiday meals with friends and colleagues, and reminding themselves not to drink too much pacharán next time even though it seems like a good idea.

But Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his PSOE socialist party? They’re having the worst Christmas ever as they deal with multiple lawsuits, courtesy of judges who will definitely be getting coal for Christmas. The same goes for those former government advisers singing like canaries about corruption. They’re getting coal too, and no amount of pacharán will make it right.

The big case got bigger. The big court case weighing on Sánchez and the PSOE used to be called the Caso Koldo after Koldo García, an advisor to former Public Works Minister José Luis Ábalos whom Guardia Civil arrested earlier this year for allegedly taking bribes for millions in COVID-era mask sales. In the next chapter, Víctor de Aldama, a Koldo associate, was accused of helping secure licenses that allowed his network to buy fuel without VAT and then resell it at full price, defrauding the Spanish taxman of €182m (that’s a lot of money). Then a few weeks ago Aldama began singing like a canary, which led us to…

This week’s excitement:

Aldama testified in the Supreme Court on Monday—for three hours. And for those who like corruption cases and cloak-and-dagger drama, he didn’t disappoint. He…
- Delivered a handwritten list of “pre-decided” contracts for public works, meant to be written by Koldo, that supposedly showed projects where contractors gave the group payoffs (aka “commissions”) to win the work.
- Insisted that his mobile phone, which is being held in the case, holds WhatsApp messages with the Finance Minister’s chief of staff, to whom he claims to have paid a “commission” of €25,000 to avoid a tax investigation.
- Said he paid €15,000 to Santos Cerdán, a top PSOE official, to get public work contracts.
- Claimed he handed at least €170,000 in commissions directly to Ábalos—while he was public works minister.
- Claimed that 1 to 1.5% of the payments—the contract price or the “commission” is not clear—went to the PSOE to finance the party. (He has said this repeatedly)

Just accusations. Now, to be clear, these are just accusations, that the accused—from Ábalos to the PSOE—vehemently deny. And Koldo has played down Aldama’s role and the meeting they had. But there are signs the judges smell something dirty. Like…

The Supreme Court has confiscated Koldo’s passport and requires him to check in every 15 days. And the same court has asked Parliament to remove Ábalos’s immunity (as an MP) as it sees “indications” of at least four crimes.

Fun times. But there’s more.

As the PM and the PSOE are facing the fallout of this big, bad corruption scandal, two other cases affect Sánchez directly—those of his wife and his brother.

Let’s start with Begoña. As you Tapa fans know, Sánchez’s wife Begoña Gómez is under investigation for alleged corruption and influence peddling while she was working at the Universidad Complutense—or, as her critics say, using her position as the PM’s wife to get things done for people and businesses who helped her—based on an accusation by the far-right, pseudo-union Manos Limpias (aka Clean Hands).

Under the cover of dawn. Yesterday morning, she testified in the case, entering the court through the garage ~~to avoid embarrassing photos~~ for security reasons. This was the third time she’s testified, but the first she’s answered any questions. Her testimony lasted a little over 30 minutes and she only answered questions from her own lawyer, which is legal in a weird peculiarity of Spanish law. Nothing really to see here—not yet—though it’s embarrassing for a PM’s wife to have to testify in a court case. More to come.

Then there’s Pedro’s brother. Because having one family member investigated is not enough, there’s also the investigation launched last month into David Sánchez for alleged embezzlement, influence peddling and tax fraud. If you’re wondering who made the initial accusation, yes, it was Clean Hands. Again.

Fake job? A Badajoz court is investigating David Sánchez (and eight other people) to determine whether the Badajoz Provincial Council irregularly created a tailor-made position for him in 2017 (i.e. kind of a fake job) when it named him Coordinator of activities for the music conservatories in the Department of Culture, Youth, and Social Welfare of the Badajoz Provincial Council.
Nice work if you can get it. According to Clean Hands, over the last seven years pretty much all he’s done is direct one concert, back in January 2019. To put it simply, they are accusing him of collecting a salary without working. (They also said he owned BBVA shares valued at €1.4m, but the bank says this is not true and that he only owns €71,411.16 worth.)
Next date. David is expected back in court in January. Judge Beatriz Biedma wants the Provincial Council to provide an exact description of his job duties ASAP—something it hasn’t done even though she’s asked for it repeatedly.

Last but not least… Remember the case involving Alberto González Amador (a.k.a. Madrid regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s boyfriend)? You know, the guy indicted for committing tax fraud by issuing false invoices to hide the commissions he made selling medical equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Can’t say that, he says. This week, the Supreme Court admitted a lawsuit he filed against First Deputy PM María Jesús Montero for “unlawful intrusion into his right to honor” (like, slander). Montero has repeatedly attacked González Amador, like on March 12 when she accused him of living in an apartment that was paid for via tax fraud. While he has admitted, via his lawyer, that he dodged taxes, he is asking for €40,000 from Montero.

Tough times, Pedro! 😰 But still… Merry Christmas!

PS: Remember we’re off for the next two weeks. We’ll be back in January.

More news below. 👇👇

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💬 Five things to discuss at dinner parties this week

1. 🪦 Mango empire struck by tragedy

Off a cliff? Saturday afternoon brought one of those unexpected events—you know, the “didn’t see that coming” kind—with the news that the billionaire founder of the Mango empire, Isak Andic, had fallen to his death from a cliff alongside a cave path in Montsant (Barcelona). Like, really?

Hiking fan. Andic, 71, was a mountain and hiking enthusiast and was spending the day with his family walking near the caves, whose organic shapes inspired Antoni Gaudí to design the Sagrada Familia (which is pretty cool).
Slip and fall. At one point during the walk, while he was with his son Jonathan, he slipped and fell off the edge of the cliff, from a height of more than 100 metres. And that was his end.

A little history. Born to a Sephardic Jewish family in Istanbul in 1953, Andic and his family emigrated to Barcelona in 1969, and it was there that he and his brother Nahman started selling hand-embroidered "made-in-Turkey" T-shirts.

Mango time. In 1984, they joined up with Enric Cusí and renamed their stores Mango, after the sweetness, exotic appeal, and simplicity of the fruit he first tasted on a trip to the Philippines. Let’s just say that Mango was a success—it grew to 2,000s stores—and when he died, Andic—Mango’s sole shareholder—was worth €4.5bn, making him the 5th richest person in Spain.

Saying there’s nothing to see here… A little over a day after the death, the police announced that the death was an accident.

They always investigate violent deaths. The Mossos d’Esquadra (Catalan police) took a statement from Jonathan Andic, who according to various sources was in a state of shock at what had happened when he was questioned. The mountain unit of the police inspected the area, tests were made, and the Mossos concluded that it was accidental.

People who have ideas, well… had ideas. Those who watch wealthy family dramas of the Succession type noted that Jonathan was the oldest heir and that he had served as CEO for a few years starting in 2014 before he was removed by his father after a series of mounting losses. (We live in a world of “armchair detectives” now so the theory that he had something to do with his father’s death inevitably took the internet by storm).

The funeral was massive. Spain’s business world came out to pay their respects, with a who’s who of leaders including Mercadona boss Juan Roig (Spain’s 4th richest person).
Tributes. The political world paid tribute too, with PM Pedro Sánchez saying, “All my love and recognition for your great work and business vision, which has turned this Spanish firm into a world leader in fashion,"

2. 🌊 The (divisive) Norwegian show La Palma on Netflix

Hey, look at us reviewing TV shows now!

Actually, we don’t (at least not normally) but we can guarantee that La Palma will come up in conversation so it’s better if you’re in the loop.

La Palma is a four-episode disaster show that follows a Norwegian family that flies to the island of La Palma (one of the Canary Islands) for Christmas and gets trapped there during a volcanic eruption. What’s worse, this eruption is what vulcanologists call The Big One, which will cause half of the island to suddenly slide into the ocean and create a megatsunami that kill pretty much everyone, everywhere.

No, it’s not your typical Hallmark Christmas movie.

Now, before we discuss a few ridiculous and infuriating plot points, let us clarify that this whole “island sliding into the ocean” thing is, in fact, a real theory that’s been around for over 20 years.

The theory was presented by two British geologists who hypothesized that during a future eruption, the western flank of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma would slide into the Atlantic, potentially generating a "megatsunami" that could reach Africa, Europe and the Americas in a matter of hours, thus destroying everything from New York to Rio.
If you were in Spain in 2021, you probably remember the volcanic eruption there. So yeah, that volcano means trouble.

Anyway, La Palma (the show, not the island) is an entertaining four-hour ride that’s good for binging this Christmas, mainly because we can guarantee it will make you angry at the stupidity of its characters. Trust us, if the Daily Mail agrees with us, we can guarantee it’s true.

First, our spoiler-free thoughts:

La Palma is a fun watch, with great acting and very good special effects. The suspense builds up steadily and the payoff is… OK.
The show not only requires suspension of disbelief, but it also requires you to basically shoot your disbelief into the exosphere and leave it there.
There’s one character who makes every single bad decision you can think of and nobody stops them.

We have more thoughts but these include the spoilers below so look away.

We found it hilarious that Norway pretty much saves the day while the Spanish government is pretending to be the mayor from Jaws (for you Gen Zers, that’s a really old movie about a killer shark and a mayor who refused to close the beaches because, hey, capitalism).
Alma Günther’s character “Sara” is probably the most idiotic teenager since Kim Bauer in Kiefer Sutherland’s 24 (for you Gen Zers, that’s a really old dad show about killing terrorists in real time).
Honestly, suspend disbelief. Sara’s plane gets caught by the megatsunami as it's taking off and… she survives. Other characters outpace the megatsunami using an inflatable motorboat—and also survive. That giant wave is the slowest thing to happen to humanity since The English Patient (for you Gen Zers, that’s a really old and slow movie about the desert).

Anyway, if you’re in the mood to watch how a Spanish island is responsible for killing billions this Christmas, then this is the show for you. Happy Holidays!

3.☹️ The death of legendary actor Marisa Paredes

If you like Spanish cinema (and specifically Pedro Almodovar’s work), then you know who Marisa Paredes was. The iconic Spanish actor, who also worked with Guillermo del Toro, passed away at 78 on Tuesday due to heart failure, and the entire film industry is in mourning.

Paredes was a beloved figure in Spain and the film industry worldwide, with a career spanning over 75 films. While she started working in the 60s, it was in the 80s that she became well-known thanks to her incredible performance in Almodóvar’s Dark Habits (1983).
That was the beginning of a long partnership. Almodóvar loved her so much he cast her in High Heels (1991), The Flower of My Secret (1995), All About My Mother (1999) and The Skin I Live In (2011). This helped her become a leading figure in Spanish cinema, mainly because of her ability to bring complex characters to life.
But it was her roles in Roberto Benigni’s Oscar-winning Life is Beautiful (1997) and Guillermo del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone (2001), a story set during the Spanish Civil War, that helped her garner international acclaim.

Besides her work in film, Paredes also served as the president of the Spanish Film Commission from 2000 to 2003. In 2018, the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain gave her the Honorary Goya (Goyas = the Spanish version of the Oscars) for “extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement”.

Paredes earned two Goya nominations, one for Best Supporting Actor for Cara de Acelga (1995) and The Flower of My Secret (1995) and the Academy posthumously described her work as defined by “strong, ambivalent, broken, passionate, and enigmatic women who were, above all, deeply human.”

Paredes was the supporting actor who went from “TV in black and white to streaming”, in the (correct) words of El Español—her final role was in the 2023 series Vestidas de Azul (on atresplayer), which follows the life of a group of transgender women in post-Franco Spain.

Her funeral was a who’s who of Spanish celebs and included PM Sánchez (who was asked to name his favorite Paredes movie and responded “all of them”). 🤔

*Her last video interview was with Harper’s Bazaar Spain and it went viral on Tuesday. You can watch it here.

4.💔 Rough breakup? Head to Madrid (Yes, Don Jr. dropped by)

We love Madrid so much that we sometimes sound like the tourist board. But occasionally we wonder if maybe we go too far and attract, like, the kind of people who might make it less cool. Like, when Amber Heard moved to Madrid after her messy divorce and trial with Johnny Depp made them both look pretty gnarly, we wondered if we should stop selling the city that thinks five hours is a full night’s sleep.

And now there’s Don Jr…

Don Jr. as in Donald Trump Jr.? That’s correct.

Leaving on a jet plane ✈️. Don Jr was spotted at Miami International Airport last Thursday waiting for a flight to Madrid along with his new-ish girlfriend, Palm Beach socialite Bettina Anderson, just days after they went public with their relationship.

Until not so long ago he’d been engaged with Kimberly Guilfoyle (oddly, before dating the right-wing First Son, Guilfoyle was married to current lefty California Gov. Gavin Newsom; recently, she’s been named Ambassador to Greece by this season’s winner of America’s Got President).

Former Vanity Fair and New Yorker editor Tina Brown described Don Jr.’s girlfriend swap as follows: “Even Don Jr. has revamped his image, switching out his former arm candy—screeching, duvet-lipped Kimberly Guilfoyle, whom Trump obligingly shot out of a cannon towards the U.S. embassy in Athens—for a svelte, blonde Palm Beach socialite.”

But we digress. We can’t spend the whole newsletter being catty. So let’s just say the news of their Madrid flight spun up so many thoughts. Theories popped up about whether he’d be looking at houses in El Viso (where Amber Heard lives) or hanging out with fellow Madrid-living American exile Richard Gere. Were they coming to celebrate Hanukkah with Vox’s own Santiago Abascal? Maybe they just wanted to try this city’s legendary cocido?

We were deceived. Ah, we were all wrong (but it was fun while it lasted). It appears that they only flew through Madrid, never to turn our most bizarre thoughts into reality. Instead, they went on to Venice, where Bettina posted a series of the world’s most banal Instagram stories. But newsletter editors can dream, right?

5. 💸 Forbes opens exclusive members club in Madrid

Move over Club Matador & Soho House! There’s a new player in town and these guys aren’t screwing around.

Madrid is having a moment and it’s not just us saying it. From The Economist calling it “booming” to the New York Times calling it a new Miami, suddenly it looks like everyone wants to live here (and yes, that includes Richard Gere and Amber Heard… and maybe one day Don Jr.?).

So it makes sense then that Forbes has chosen Madrid to launch its first-ever private club, Forbes House Madrid, which opened its doors yesterday. Incredibly, it beat Soho House Madrid, scheduled to arrive in 2025.

But what the heck is Forbes House Madrid, anyway?

See and be seen. According to its website, the 2000 m2 space is designed to “become the home of business leaders, politicians, creatives, and entrepreneurs, with a breathtaking penthouse offering panoramic views of half the city”.
The seven-story building is located a few blocks away from the Supreme Court and Plaza Colón, on Calle de Amador de los Ríos 5, in Chamberí, and it was designed by architect Carlos Lamela (one of the top architects in Spain who, among other things, designed Terminal 4 of Barajas Airport).
The club also includes: a library, a Michelin-starred restaurant led by Adolfo Santos, a wine cellar, a rooftop bar, an auditorium, and event spaces to hang out with your friends (as long as you can afford it, of course).

Sounds good, doesn’t it? We at The Tapa will be happy to accept membership—for journalistic purposes only, obviously. And maybe the Michelin-starred restaurants. But we digress. What if you want to become a member?

To join, you will need to prove you’re worthy of membership (a successful career will do the trick), and you will also need the endorsement of at least two members.

Madrid, what a city.

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