A new corruption lawsuit embarrasses the Spanish Partido Popular (PP). If the accusations are correct, the flow of dirty money within the party was considerable: administrators were transferred thousands of euros on top of their salaries.
The conservative PP was in power in Spain for a long time. The party ruled the country from 1996 to 2004, then from 2011 to 2018. At that time, corruption within the party grew into a multi-headed monster, according to the Public Prosecution Service.
Today a new trial on the illegal money circuit started in Madrid. The main suspect in the case is the accountant Luis Bárcenas. He managed the party’s finances for nearly thirty years, a period when the accountant meticulously one b-kas tracked. In Spain, ‘B’ stands for money on which no taxes are paid.
‘Black money to party bosses’
From 1982, the PP was funded by contributions in b, coming from donations to the party. In 2008 this account had one million euros. Of this, 900,000 euros was spent on the renovation of the party office in Madrid, “Bárcenas told the OM earlier this month.
Entrepreneurs hoping for lucrative public contracts also paid contributions into the illegal cash. Sums of black money from the ‘box b’ have disappeared directly into the pockets of party bosses, according to the accountant.
As early as 2013, the newspaper El País made revelations about the illegal flow of money, with the publication of the handwritten cash books. Among the privileged was former prime minister Mariano Rajoy, and later IMF chief Rodrigo Rato, according to the accounts.
Evidence destroyed and gone
One problem is that other evidence in the case was lost because Prime Minister Rajoy personally ran it through a shredder, the former accountant said. Documents also disappeared after a burglary in his wife’s studio.
Judges have previously addressed corruption within the PP, in a parallel case. After the conviction of a group of party members and employees, Rajoy’s government fell in 2018. Bárcenas was also convicted on that occasion.
Especially young people left
Due to the corruption scandals, the Partido Popular has lost part of its following, and it is unable to get those votes back. Those people have switched to the right-wing radical party Vox, says political analyst Oriol Bartomeu. “For those voters, the PP is through and through corrupt. Young people in particular have left,” he says.
He expects the PP to see the direct consequences of the scandals on Sunday, if there are regional elections in Catalonia. “Vox is more radical, harder, but not smeared by people filling their pockets. The Partido Popular can be hit hard.”
The lawsuit against former employees of the party will continue for weeks. Former Prime Ministers José María Aznar and Rajoy are also heard, albeit only as a witness.
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