BÁRCENAS' predecessor Álvaro Lapuerta is 'unfit to testify' because of his 'mental health' which would impede him from giving coherent and reliable responses to cross-examining and understanding the full nature and quality of the process, according to court medics.
The 86-year-old former treasurer has recently suffered two 'unexplained' falls and is said to have 'neurological and psychological' impediments, which may have been either the cause or the result of these.
One of the falls left him in a coma for 14 days – after five days in an involuntary coma, the brain is usually permanently affected to a greater or lesser degree, medics say.
Lapuerta had not suffered his falls when he gave a statement to the anti-corruption prosecutors in February, maintaining that to the best of his knowledge and belief there were no 'undercover accounts', cash-in-hand wage top-ups to politicians or bribes received from companies in exchange for lucrative public works contracts.
He repeated all this to judge Pablo Ruz in March, and was due to testify again if he was medically fit to do so.
His two daughters claimed he was not, hence the full examination he was given by the courts.
The most recent PP treasurer, Luis Bárcenas, is actively cooperating with the judge in his investigations, but all other PP members deny the accusations.
A few former members of staff, including secretaries, have backed Bárcenas' claims.
