Editor’s note: This article was first published in November 2010, while Nueva Rumasa was raising money from small investors. The group filed for insolvency in 2011, the Ruiz-Mateos family was then investigated for fraud over those investments, and José María Ruiz-Mateos died in 2015.
Every time we publish an article about Nueva Rumasa, a debate opens up with opinions of every kind. Some come from a lack of knowledge, others from motives that have nothing to do with understanding. This time we won’t talk about its capital increase or the risks of investing in Nueva Rumasa, since it’s clear that J.M. Ruiz-Mateos is still fighting a “ghost”, and that seriously damages his image.
For those who don’t know what happened the year Rumasa was expropriated, or who brand J.M. Ruiz-Mateos a “swindler”, it’s worth remembering that this was a man who had more power than the government itself at the time, and perhaps it was precisely that power that, one night, led to the decision to “get him out of the way”.
As we all know, the government has no right to seize a person’s work or a person’s companies. If something isn’t right or there are irregularities, you can impose the corresponding fine and demand payment, but you can never wrongfully take possession of something and sell what doesn’t belong to the government as if it did.
If I remember correctly, the government of Felipe González (Spain’s Socialist prime minister at the time) was branded corrupt. I believe supporters of the PP, or Alianza Popular as it was then, called Felipe González a “thief”. And yet, funnily enough, he doesn’t seem to be accused of robbing Rumasa. Is that something both parties are happy to tolerate?
Who benefited from the expropriation of a group of more than 800 companies? It’s simple: you just have to search the records to see who ended up with the companies and, above all, at what price.
As Victoria Bernal has rightly reminded us, a ruling has been handed down against the government, so as things stand, and until anyone says otherwise, José María Ruiz-Mateos is not the guilty party but the victim. He was living proof that anyone can have their possessions taken away “as if by magic”.
As for the workers who are unhappy about late payment of their wages, all I can say is that I’m sorry they’re in that situation, but, as Victoria Bernal reminds us, that’s the situation of 70% of companies in Spain today. In the past, when someone wasn’t comfortable at a company, they simply left and looked for somewhere they’d feel better. Criticising the company you worked for was never seen as acceptable.
I understand that the problem today is that you can’t leave a company because there are no jobs, and I must say that this is precisely why we should understand and, as far as possible, support this man who is trying to create jobs. A swindler? A fraudster? Right now… who owes whom?
Perceived reality is not absolute reality. I’m sorry to say it, but seeing once again the decline of this man, worn out from fighting the “ghost” of an accusation that has since been shown to be ill-founded, should make us realise that many of us may be wrong.
Nueva Rumasa may close tomorrow, or it may not, but that won’t change the fact that on the day of the expropriation the government committed an injustice against a businessman, and whatever happens from now on, that can no longer be undone.
So all that’s left for me to say is: “Onwards and upwards, J.M.”
Featured image: Ignacio Fernández Candela, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
