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At a hearing held on July 15, Luis Bárcenas, the former treasurer of the conservative People’s Party (PP) told the court that senior figures in the organisation, including Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, had received irregular bonuses for years.
According to Bárcenas, who provided the court with handwritten documents alleged to form part of a parallel set of accounts maintained by the PP, Rajoy received bonuses with an overall value of €45,000 between 2009 and 2010.
At a press conference, Mariano Rajoy denied the allegations and insisted that Bárcenas was attempting to "blackmail the state". However, El Mundo, the daily which has obtained several documents relating to the scandal, argues that —
Bárcenas’ notes are Bárcenas’ proof. These are not just documents attributed to him, but notes that were written in his hand over a period of two decades, which reflect the party’s parallel set of accounts, its irregular financing by construction companies, and the irregular bonuses received by its leadership.
A conversation with investigative reporters Stefano Valentino and Giorgio Michalopoulos, who have dissected the dark underbelly of green finance for Voxeurop and won several awards for their work.
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