{"id":6042,"date":"2017-11-10T12:09:57","date_gmt":"2017-11-10T09:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/anticorr.media\/?p=6042"},"modified":"2017-11-13T10:47:58","modified_gmt":"2017-11-13T07:47:58","slug":"korrupciya-chistoj-vody-sledovateli-obvinili-partiyu-ispanskogo-premera-vo-vzyatochnichestve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anticorr.media\/en\/korrupciya-chistoj-vody-sledovateli-obvinili-partiyu-ispanskogo-premera-vo-vzyatochnichestve\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Corruption in its purest form\u2019 Rajoy\u2019s party accused in Spain bribery investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"

This material belongs to: Express<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SPANISH Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy<\/a>\u2019s party has been accused of \u201ccorruption in its purest form\u201d in a long-running investigation into party finances.<\/p>\n

Manuel Morocho<\/a>, chief inspector of Spain\u2019s Unit of Economic and Financial Crimes<\/a> (UDEF<\/a>), claims the People\u2019s Party<\/a> (PP<\/a>) acted as a \u201ccriminal organisation\u201d in accepting payments from a slush fund.<\/p>\n

He also claims there is \u201ccircumstantial\u201d evidence to link Mr Rajoy to the criminal activity.<\/p>\n

The corruption scandal has been ongoing for months after Mr Rajoy achieved the dubious accolade of being the first sitting Prime Minister to testify as a witness in a criminal trial.<\/p>\n

The PP allegedly used a parallel system of accounts to siphon bribes into party funds through \u201cbox B\u201d, handled by former party treasurer Lu\u00eds Barcenas<\/a>, among others.<\/p>\n

Appearing before a Spanish Congressional commission investigating the matter, Mr Morocho described the network as totally corrupt in his damning evidence.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cAn organisation that has operated for a long time, which has penetrated to very deep levels in public administrations until it has become parasitic and absorbed the capacity of a political leader to allocate and manage public funds\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the concept of corruption in its purest form.\u201d<\/p>\n

The criminal investigator said Mr Rajoy would have benefitted from the payments \u201cindirectly\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Luis Barcenas has admitted handing black money to politicians. Source: Express.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to Mr Morocho, \u201ccircumstantial\u201d evidence also connects Mr Rajoy himself to the payments, as well as former Spanish ambassador to the UK Federico Trillo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Former PP treasurer Mr Barcenas has admitted he regularly handed over envelopes of black money to politicians from his party.<\/p>\n

Mr Rajoy is included in Mr Barcenas\u2019 notes, however Mr Rajoy is not being prosecuted in the case and there is no concrete evidence he was handed money.<\/p>\n

Mr Barcenas says any suggestion he was involved in the bribes is \u201cabsolutely false\u201d as at the time of the payments he was in charge of the policy, not the financing, of the PP.<\/p>\n