The Bárcenas affair is a corruption scandal in Spain that affects the conservative People's Party (PP), one of the country's main political parties. Following revelations that Luis Bárcenas, who served as party

treasurer A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization. Government The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...

and

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

, held 48 million euros"Spain ruling party's ex-treasurer sent to jail in corruption case"
'

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

''. Retrieved 22 October 2017 in Swiss bank accounts, extracts of handwritten accounts, the so-called "Bárcenas papers" (''los papeles de Bárcenas'') were published in the press. Those accounts allegedly indicate that the PP kept, for many years, a parallel

bookkeeping Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions, and is part of the process of accounting in business and other organizations. It involves preparing source documents for all transactions, operations, and other events of a business. T ...

system to record undeclared and illegal cash donations, and used them to pay bonuses to senior members of the party as well as for daily party expenses.

Overview

The documents cover the period from 1990 to 2009,"Spanish prime minister Rajoy accused of hiding secret income"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. Retrieved 15 August 2013. and suggest that regular cash payments had been made from a

slush fund A slush fund is a fund or account used for miscellaneous income and expenses, particularly when these are corrupt or illegal. Such funds may be kept hidden and maintained separately from money that is used for legitimate purposes. Slush funds m ...

. Those include payments of 25,000 euros ($34,000) a year, for eleven years, to the former Prime Minister,

Mariano Rajoy Mariano Rajoy Brey (, ; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 2011 to 2018, when a 2018 vote of no confidence in the government of Mariano Rajoy, vote of no confidence ousted his government. A m ...

,“Spain corruption scandal turns up heat on PM Rajoy”

. Retrieved 15 August 2013. including, according to '' El Mundo'', during three of the years that he served as minister in

José María Aznar José María Alfredo Aznar López (; born 25 February 1953) is a Spanish politician who was the prime minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He led the People's Party (Spain), People's Party (PP), the dominant centre-right political party in Spai ...

's government."Key players: Spanish ruling party 'slush fund'"

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

. Retrieved 15 August 2013. Other leading party figures allegedly involved in the scandal include former ministers

Rodrigo Rato Rodrigo de Rato y Figaredo (born 18 March 1949) is a businessman and politician who served in the Council of Ministers of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He also served as the ninth managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2004 ...

, (also a former director general of the

IMF The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of la ...

, and now serving time for a separate corruption case), Ángel Acebes, Federico Trillo, and former secretaries-general, who also served as ministers,

Francisco Álvarez-Cascos Francisco Álvarez–Cascos Fernández (born 1 October 1947) is a Spanish politician. He was Secretary-General of the ruling Partido Popular from 1989 to 1999 and the President of the Principality of Asturias from 2011 to 2012. Álvarez-Casco ...

, who allegedly received 421,693 euros between 1990 and 2004, Javier Arenas, who allegedly received 234,320 euros, and

María Dolores de Cospedal María Dolores Cospedal García (born 13 December 1965) is a Spanish politician. A member of the People's Party (PP), she served as President of Castile-La Mancha from 2011 to 2015 and as Minister of Defence of the Government of Spain from 201 ...

, also

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

, the most senior party member summoned to date to appear before the investigating judge and the

President of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the Speaker (politics), speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's Order of succession, succes ...

Pío García-Escudero Pío García-Escudero Márquez, 4th Count of Badarán (born 28 October 1952) is a Spanish architect and politician who served as the 59th President of the Senate of Spain from 2011 to 2019. Since 21 May 2019, Escudero has served as the Second ...

On 1 August 2013, after “weeks of holding out against demands that he give some sort of explanation for the corruption and illegal funding scandal that has engulfed” his party,"Rajoy clings to his job"
''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

''. Retrieved 15 August 2013. Rajoy was finally forced to address Spain's parliament by the threat of a

motion of censure A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fit ...

. While admitting to having handled the scandal badly, he denied taking illegal funds. On 22 November 2013, the investigating judge released a writ where he claimed that circumstantial evidence existed that the PP had maintained a parallel accounting system to the official one it presented to the Audit Court. The trial for the related

Gürtel case The Gürtel case was a major political corruption scandal in Spain that implicated hundreds of officers of the People's Party (Spain), People's Party (PP), Spain's major Conservatism, conservative party, some of whom were subsequently forced to ...

began in 2016. The verdicts in the first part of the Gürtel case, reached in 2018, had implications for the "Caja B" case, which was scheduled for trial later that year.

Background

The Bárcenas affair broke out on 18 January 2013, when Spain's leading center-right daily, '' El Mundo'', revealed that the PP treasurer, Luis Bárcenas had, until stepping down in 2009 after being named a defendant in the Gürtel political corruption case, used the slush fund to pay out monthly amounts, ranging from 5,000 to 15,000 euros, to leading members of the party. On 31 January 2013, Spain's leading center-left daily, ''

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...

'', in turn published what became known as the "Bárcenas papers", which consist of facsimile excerpts from handwritten ledgers in Bárcenas’ hand. Current senate president Pío García Escudero, later stated that one of the payments that figure in Bárcenas’ handwriting corresponded to a cash loan he had been given to repair damage to his home after a terrorist attack, and on 13 August 2013, Cristóbal Páez, a former PP finance manager, testified that he had received 12,000 euros in two payments in 2007 and 2008, as reflected in Bárcenas' handwritten notes."Two former PP chiefs admit to lack of control over accounts"
''

''. Retrieved 15 August 2013. At the end of June 2013, the investigating judge, Pablo Ruz, faced with the risk of a defendant with access to considerable offshore funds fleeing the country, ordered that Bárcenas be remanded in prison without bail, on charges of

tax fraud Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trust (property), trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax au ...

and

money-laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds into ...

. On 7 July 2013, ''El Mundo'' published an exclusive interview between Bárcenas and its editor-in-chief,

Pedro J. Ramírez Pedro José Ramírez Codina (born 26 March 1952), widely known as Pedro J. Ramírez, is a Spanish journalist. When he was appointed to manage ''Diario 16'' at the age of 28, he became Spain's youngest editor of a national newspaper. In 1989 he ...

, in which the former admitted the authenticity of the so-called "Bárcenas papers", which he had initially denied out of loyalty to his party. He likewise admitted that both he and the previous party treasurer,

Álvaro Lapuerta Álvaro de Lapuerta Quintero (22 September 1927 – 2 June 2018) was a Spanish politician who sat on the Congress of Deputies between 1977 and 2004, and served as treasurer of the People's Party from 1993 to 2008. He was questioned regarding ...

, had received cash donations from real estate agents and other businessmen in "bags, suitcases and briefcases" that were used as a slush fund.

Summonses served

Summons A summons (also known in England and Wales as a claim form or plaint note, and in the Australian state of New South Wales as a court attendance notice (CAN)) is a legal document issued by a court (a ''judicial summons'') or by an administrative ag ...

es to testify before the High Court were issued to the following people: *

– former secretary general of PP and former minister * Javier Arenas – former secretary general of PP and former minister *Manuel Contreras Caro (Azvy) * Maria Dolores de Cospedal former secretary general of PPd former mi"PP number two blames Rajoy and her predecessor for deal with Bárcenas"
''

''. Retrieved 15 August 2013. *Juan Manuel Fernández (Aldesa) *Alfonso García Pozuelo (Construcciones Hispánica) *Rosalía Iglesias Villar (Bárcenas’ wife) *

(former treasurer of PP), who was eventually excused because of ill health *José María Mayor Oreja (former chairman of

Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas The FCC Group, formerly Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas, S. A. (currently one of the group's entities), is a Spanish business group, based in Barcelona. It has specialised in public services. Its shares were first listed on the stock exchan ...

)"Uno de los cuatro empresarios de la variante de Pajares admite pagos al PP y los otros los niegan"
''

La Nueva España ''La Nueva España'' is a daily newspaper in Spain. Published in Oviedo, it serves Asturias. The publisher of the paper is Editoral Prensa Asturiana. It is published in tabloid format. The paper has an independent political stance. Letizia Or ...

''. Retrieved 15 August 2013. *Luis del Rivero (former chairman of Sacyr Vallehermoso) *José Luis Sánchez Domínguez (Grupo Sando) * Ángel Sanchis (former deputy and former treasurer of PP) *Antonio Vilella (Construcciones Rubau) * Juan-Miguel Villar Mir (chairman and CEO of OHL)

Politicians or party employees who have admitted to receiving payments

*Santiago Abascal, PP city councillor (€12,000) *

, current second vice president of the

Senate of Spain The Senate () is the upper house of the , which along with the Congress of Deputies – the lower chamber – comprises the Parliament of the Kingdom of Spain. The Senate meets in the Palace of the Senate in Madrid. The presiding officer of the ...

(€30,000) * Jaume Matas“Destacados miembros del PP avalan los apuntes contables que les afectan”
''

''. Retrieved 15 August 2013. (former

President of the Balearic Islands The president of the Balearic Islands is the head of government of the Balearic Islands, one of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain, while the monarch Felipe VI remains the head of state as King of Spain The monarchy of Spain or Span ...

and former minister in the Aznar government; as of 2014, serving jail time for a separate corruption case) *Jaime Ignacio del Burgo *Calixto Ayesa“Un cargo del PP reconoce que cobró entregas de la lista de Bárcenas”
''

''. Retrieved 15 August 2013. *Cristóbal Páez, a former PP finance manager * Ángel Acebes, former minister.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barcenas affair 2013 in Spain 2013 scandals Financial crimes Political scandals in Spain