Compiled with the help of artificial intelligence, based on Spanish-language information. Source below the article.
Undeclared board positions
The deputy finance minister of the Canary Islands government, Gabriel Megías Martínez, has kept his membership of the boards of two companies hidden from public view. The businesses in question are pasta manufacturer Pastas La Isleña and Inversiones y Gestiones Turísticas, S.A., the company that runs the Cordial hotel chain.
As reported by Diario de Avisos and confirmed by Canarias Ahora, Megías Martínez – the second-in-command at the department headed by Matilde Asián (PP) – currently appears in the Official State Gazette (BOE) as a board member of Andrés Mendoza Megías, the entity behind Pastas La Isleña in Gran Canaria and the chocolate maker La Candelaria in Tenerife. Furthermore, minutes from March 2026 confirm that he sits on the board of Inversiones y Gestiones Turísticas, S.A.
Questions over transparency
These business connections have remained absent from the Canary Islands government’s Transparency Portal, which only notes that he served as a director at Andrés Megías Mendoza, S.A. between October 1988 and October 1989. Nothing appears in the compatibility section of the portal.
According to Diario de Avisos, the conflict is compounded by the fact that Megías signed a binding resolution in August requiring hotels across the Canary Islands to pay the Arbitrio sobre Importaciones y Entregas de Mercancías (AIEM) tax on welcome chocolates and truffles not produced in the islands – a ruling that would directly benefit La Isleña, a company headquartered in Gran Canaria.
Political reaction
The PSOE has this Wednesday demanded immediate answers from the Canary Islands People’s Party (PP) and its leader, Manuel Domínguez, who also serves as vice president of the regional government, following reports of a potential conflict of interest involving the deputy finance minister and EU relations chief.
The Socialists argue that these revelations describe a situation serious enough to warrant immediate explanations from the PP and the Canary Islands government to dispel any doubt over the conduct of a senior regional executive official.
This newspaper has contacted the regional finance department to ask why the vice councillor had not declared his business links to these two entities on the Transparency Portal, but has so far received no response.
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