The director of the daily El Mundo, Pedro J. Ramírez, on July 8 presented the National Court of Spain with original documents written by Luis Bárcenas, a former treasurer of the ruling conservative People’s Party (PP), who is currently being held in prison, which reveal the existence of a second set of accounts that was maintained by the party.
According to the conservative daily, the documents prove that Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy received irregular bonuses of as much as €42,000 per year, between 1997 and 1999 when he was a minister in the government of José María Aznar.
If the judge in charge of the affair proves the validity of the documents, explains El Mundo —
… the consequences for the PP and Rajoy will be first and foremost political, because the prime minister gave his word when he denied the existence of illegal financing in his party, and further declared that he had never personally received a penny.
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.
Go to the event >