|
The Bárcenas Affair refers to the corruption scandal in Spain following the publication of extracts from handwritten accounts by its former treasurer and senator, Luis Bárcenas, the so-called “Bárcenas papers” (''los papeles de Bárcenas''). Those indicate that the ruling People’s Party (PP) kept, for many years, a parallel bookkeeping system to record undeclared and illegal cash donations, and used them in part to pay bonuses to senior members of the party.〔(Q&A: "Rajoy party scandal in Spain" ) BBC News. Retrieved 15 August 2013.〕 The documents cover the period from 1990 to 2009,〔("Spanish prime minister Rajoy accused of hiding secret income" ) ''The Guardian''. Retrieved 15 August 2013.〕〔 (“Las cuentas secretas de Bárcenas” ) ''El País''. Retrieved 15 August 2013.〕 and suggest that regular cash payments had been made from a slush fund. Those include payments of 25,000 euros ($34,000) a year, for eleven years, to the current Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy,〔(“Spain corruption scandal turns up heat on PM Rajoy” ) Reuters. Retrieved 15 August 2013.〕〔("Spain Barcenas affair: Documents 'implicate PM Rajoy'" ) ''BBC News''. Retrieved 23 November 2013.〕 including, according to ''El Mundo'', during three of the years that he served as minister in José María Aznar's government.〔("Key players: Spanish ruling party 'slush fund'" ) BBC News. Retrieved 15 August 2013.〕 Other leading party figures allegedly involved in the scandal include former ministers Rodrigo Rato,〔 (also a former director general of the IMF), Ángel Acebes, Federico Trillo,〔 (El juez Gómez Bermúdez admite la querella de Izquierda Unida por los papeles de Bárcenas ). ''20 minutos''. Retrieved 15 August 2013.〕〔 (La contabilidad de Bárcenas indica que Rajoy y Cospedal recibieron pagos, según 'El País' ) ''20 minutos'' Retrieved 15 August 2013.〕 and former secretaries-general, who also served as ministers, Francisco Álvarez-Cascos, who allegedly received 421,693 euros between 1990 and 2004,〔 and Javier Arenas, who allegedly received 234,320 euros,〔 and the party’s current secretary general María Dolores de Cospedal,〔 the most senior party member summoned to date to appear before the investigating judge.〔 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''. Retrieved 15 August 2013.〕 Rajoy was finally forced to address Spain's parliament by the threat of a motion of censure. While admitting to having handled the scandal badly,〔("Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy admits 'mistake' over scandal" ) BBC News. Retrieved 15 August 2013.〕 he denied taking illegal funds.〔("Spain PM denies taking illegal funds but admits handling scandal badly" ) ''The Guardian''. Retrieved 15 August 2013.〕 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.〔("“Circumstantial” evidence exists that PP kept parallel accounts, High Court says" ) ''El País''. Retrieved 22 November 2013.〕 ==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.〔 (Bárcenas pagó sobresueldos en negro durante años a parte de la cúpula del PP ) ''El Mundo''. Retrieved 15 August 2013.〕 On 31 January 2013, Spain’s leading center-left daily, ''El País'', in turn published what became known as the "Bárcenas papers", which consist of facsimile excerpts from handwritten ledgers in Bárcenas’ hand.〔〔 ("Las cuentas secretas de Bárcenas" ) ''El País''. Retrieved 15 August 2013.〕〔("Spain's ruling party says all payments to its leaders are legal" ) Reuters. Retrieved 15 August 2013.〕 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" ) ''El País''. 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,〔 ("Bárcenas, en la cárcel. Prisión incondicional sin fianza para el ex tesorero del PP" ) ''El Mundo''. Retrieved 15 August 2013.〕 on charges of tax fraud and money-laundering.〔 On 7 July 2013, ''El Mundo'' published an exclusive interview between Bárcenas and its editor-in-chief, Pedro J. Ramírez, 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, had received cash donations from real estate agents and other businessmen in "bags, suitcases and briefcases" that were used as a slush fund.〔 ("Cuatro horas con Bárcenas" ) ''El Mundo''. Retrieved 15 August 2013.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bárcenas affair」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|