Opposition corruption scandal continues widening in Spain - Summary
Posted : Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:29:12 GMT
By : dpa Madrid - A corruption scandal involving Spain's main opposition conservative People's Party (PP) continued widening Wednesday as higher-level people linked to the party became implicated in the affair. News reports cited the names of a former infrastructure minister and the son-in-law of former conservative prime minister Jose Maria Aznar, though both men denied involvement.
PP leader Mariano Rajoy said the party would not "look the other way," but that "anyone who did what they should not have done will have to assume responsibility" in the case.
However, Rajoy denied allegations that the corruption network headed by businessman Francisco Correa had illegally financed the PP.
PP spokeswoman Dolores de Cospedal stressed the party had suspended the membership of people who had been named as suspects, accusing the Socialist government and prosecutors of unfairly targeting the PP.
The scandal is known as the Guertel case, guertel being the German word for "correa" (belt).
For the past decade, Correa and businessmen linked to him are believed to have bribed PP officials and PP members governing regions or cities to give them lucrative contracts.
Dozens of people, including about 60 official suspects, are being investigated by three courts. A PP treasurer, four mayors, a regional senior official and a European legislator have resigned over the case.
When part of the secrecy surrounding the legal proceedings was lifted on Tuesday, new revelations came out, including phone conversations that had been taped by police.
The evidence points to senior PP officials in the eastern region of Valencia receiving expensive gifts such as luxury cars and a watch worth 25,000 euros (37,000 dollars) from the Correa network.
Valencian Regional Prime Minister Francisco Camps was earlier cleared of charges of accepting expensive suits as bribes.
The corruption evidence also extends to Madrid and the northern regions of Galicia and Castile-and-Leon.
The most recent evidence even pointed to the possible involvement of former infrastructure minister Francisco Alvarez Cascos and of Alejandro Agag, the son-in-law of 1996-2004 conservative prime minister Jose Maria Aznar, reports said.
Neither of the two, however, has been formally indicted, and both have denied having had links with Correa.
The network leaders continued operating from prison in attempts to hide their fortunes, according to investigators who tapped their phone conversations and intercepted their mail.
The alleged behaviour of the PP representatives violated "the most basic ethical principles," wrote the daily El Mundo, which is usually close to the PP.
The left-leaning El Pais described the affair as "one of the biggest political scandals in Spanish history."
"Rajoy needs to act implacably" to cleanse the reputation of his party, El Mundo advised the party leader who has been accused of downplaying the scandal.
Despite the scandal, polls indicate that the PP is more popular than Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialists, who have come under heavy criticism over their handling of Spain's economic crisis.
Copyright DPA
www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/289123,opposition-corruption-scandal-continues-widening-in-spain--summary.html
