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Rajoy testifies over Gürtel racket: First-ever reigning president called as witness says he had 'nothing to do with' PP finances
26/07/2017
PRESIDENT Mariano Rajoy finished testifying as a witness in the Gürtel corruption case at 13.00 today (Wednesday), during which he insisted his role in the PP party had been 'entirely political' and 'nothing to do with the accounting side'.
His answers to the accusation, head of court and defence had 312 reporters and photographers hanging onto every word and gesture for subsequent description in 83 media channels, of which 21 were from other countries including France, Germany, México, Russia and Colombia.
The first-ever serving president to be called to the dock, even as a witness, Rajoy was asked about what he knew of the right-wing PP's activities between the years 1999 and 2005, the during which the corruption is thought to have started.
The racket involved businesses paying bribes to the PP in cash in exchange for lucrative public works contracts, and the cash being handed out in envelopes to top-flight party members and used to fund its electoral campaigns.
Other than the current, and fairly recent treasurer – the fifth since the party formed in the post-Franco era – all the other treasurers have been charged or are under investigation.
The most high-profile of these was Luis Bárcenas, who spent 19 months in jail until last year in connection with 'underground accounts' or hidden ledgers for recording the cash bribes, known as 'Cash Box B', which led to his amassing a fortune that he stashed in Swiss bank accounts.
Expensive gifts were given to PP members at the sharp end, and health minister Ana Mato was forced to resign two years ago after it was revealed that the ringleader of the Gürtel racket, Francisco Correa, had given her Louis Vuitton handbags and paid for holidays for herself and her ex-husband, former mayor of Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid) Jesús Sepúlveda, and funded lavish birthday parties for their children.
Rajoy, however, told the judge today that he had never met Correa, and that the other leading Gürtel figurehead, one Sr Crespo, was someone he had only maintained and 'absolutely political' relationship with.
As head of the PP and leader of the various electoral campaigns, Rajoy says his role was 'purely political' and in no way linked with finances, accounting systems or funding, and insists he had never been aware of the existence of a 'Cash Box B' or of high-ranking party members being given cash-in-hand bonuses.
When asked if he remembered a meeting with Bárcenas and his sucessor in 2010, Rajoy said he recalled the occasion 'perfectly' and 'believed' Bárcenas' wife, Rosalía Iglesias – also under investigation, but in a much lesser capacity - had been there.
The president said it was a 'farewell meeting' as Bárcenas was leaving, and that its content was 'reasonable' – including Bárcenas' requests for a room to store his documents from his treasury days and the company car he had been using.
Rajoy's suspected links to Bárcenas' illicit activities, or at least his knowledge of them, came to light just before the ex-treasurer was remanded in custody when a text message from the president to the accused was revealed in the national press, reading: “Luis, be strong.”
Concerning this message exchange, which did not contain any incriminating references to the case beyond a clear show of moral support by Rajoy for whatever Bárcenas needed it for, the president merely told the judge that immediately after this, he had had no further relationship with Bárcenas and had certainly not given him 'favourable treatment'.
It was around this time that the treasurer executed a dramatic 360º turn and, from repeatedly denying all knowledge of the accusations, began to reveal everything – a move that may have been aimed at keeping his sentence down or as a backlash at being the PP's scapegoat when he was only one of those involved in the suspected scam, but which nevertheless won him huge support from the public and even letters of thanks and encouragement from school children.
But once Bárcenas' revelations began, and Rajoy finally caved in to pressure from the opposition and the public to speak out in person to Parliament, his speech was merely a lengthy apology for having trusted 'people' he should not have done and made 'errors of judgment' about 'their' honesty and integrity.
Today in court, Rajoy said he decided to axe the PP's relations with Francisco Correa in 2004 after the then treasurer Álvaro Lapuerta confided in him that 'certain suppliers and contractors' were 'using the name of the party' to try to obtain favours in town councils in the Greater Madrid region.
Rajoy stressed Lapuerta had never told him which town councils these were.
The president concluded that between the years 1996 and 2003, he had not carried out any activities whatsoever in the PP's national headquarters on Madrid's C/ Génova except for working on the 'political only' side of the electoral campaign for the year 2000.
The PP would go on to win the elections in that year for the second time, although losing to the socialists in 2004 over discrepancies in explanations about the culprits behind the Madrid train bombing, by which time the then PP leader José María Aznar would have been in office for eight years.
The PP regained power in a landslide victory in November 2011 after socialist leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero called an early election and lost due to the general public's having held him and his party solely responsible for the financial crisis.
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PRESIDENT Mariano Rajoy finished testifying as a witness in the Gürtel corruption case at 13.00 today (Wednesday), during which he insisted his role in the PP party had been 'entirely political' and 'nothing to do with the accounting side'.
His answers to the accusation, head of court and defence had 312 reporters and photographers hanging onto every word and gesture for subsequent description in 83 media channels, of which 21 were from other countries including France, Germany, México, Russia and Colombia.
The first-ever serving president to be called to the dock, even as a witness, Rajoy was asked about what he knew of the right-wing PP's activities between the years 1999 and 2005, the during which the corruption is thought to have started.
The racket involved businesses paying bribes to the PP in cash in exchange for lucrative public works contracts, and the cash being handed out in envelopes to top-flight party members and used to fund its electoral campaigns.
Other than the current, and fairly recent treasurer – the fifth since the party formed in the post-Franco era – all the other treasurers have been charged or are under investigation.
The most high-profile of these was Luis Bárcenas, who spent 19 months in jail until last year in connection with 'underground accounts' or hidden ledgers for recording the cash bribes, known as 'Cash Box B', which led to his amassing a fortune that he stashed in Swiss bank accounts.
Expensive gifts were given to PP members at the sharp end, and health minister Ana Mato was forced to resign two years ago after it was revealed that the ringleader of the Gürtel racket, Francisco Correa, had given her Louis Vuitton handbags and paid for holidays for herself and her ex-husband, former mayor of Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid) Jesús Sepúlveda, and funded lavish birthday parties for their children.
Rajoy, however, told the judge today that he had never met Correa, and that the other leading Gürtel figurehead, one Sr Crespo, was someone he had only maintained and 'absolutely political' relationship with.
As head of the PP and leader of the various electoral campaigns, Rajoy says his role was 'purely political' and in no way linked with finances, accounting systems or funding, and insists he had never been aware of the existence of a 'Cash Box B' or of high-ranking party members being given cash-in-hand bonuses.
When asked if he remembered a meeting with Bárcenas and his sucessor in 2010, Rajoy said he recalled the occasion 'perfectly' and 'believed' Bárcenas' wife, Rosalía Iglesias – also under investigation, but in a much lesser capacity - had been there.
The president said it was a 'farewell meeting' as Bárcenas was leaving, and that its content was 'reasonable' – including Bárcenas' requests for a room to store his documents from his treasury days and the company car he had been using.
Rajoy's suspected links to Bárcenas' illicit activities, or at least his knowledge of them, came to light just before the ex-treasurer was remanded in custody when a text message from the president to the accused was revealed in the national press, reading: “Luis, be strong.”
Concerning this message exchange, which did not contain any incriminating references to the case beyond a clear show of moral support by Rajoy for whatever Bárcenas needed it for, the president merely told the judge that immediately after this, he had had no further relationship with Bárcenas and had certainly not given him 'favourable treatment'.
It was around this time that the treasurer executed a dramatic 360º turn and, from repeatedly denying all knowledge of the accusations, began to reveal everything – a move that may have been aimed at keeping his sentence down or as a backlash at being the PP's scapegoat when he was only one of those involved in the suspected scam, but which nevertheless won him huge support from the public and even letters of thanks and encouragement from school children.
But once Bárcenas' revelations began, and Rajoy finally caved in to pressure from the opposition and the public to speak out in person to Parliament, his speech was merely a lengthy apology for having trusted 'people' he should not have done and made 'errors of judgment' about 'their' honesty and integrity.
Today in court, Rajoy said he decided to axe the PP's relations with Francisco Correa in 2004 after the then treasurer Álvaro Lapuerta confided in him that 'certain suppliers and contractors' were 'using the name of the party' to try to obtain favours in town councils in the Greater Madrid region.
Rajoy stressed Lapuerta had never told him which town councils these were.
The president concluded that between the years 1996 and 2003, he had not carried out any activities whatsoever in the PP's national headquarters on Madrid's C/ Génova except for working on the 'political only' side of the electoral campaign for the year 2000.
The PP would go on to win the elections in that year for the second time, although losing to the socialists in 2004 over discrepancies in explanations about the culprits behind the Madrid train bombing, by which time the then PP leader José María Aznar would have been in office for eight years.
The PP regained power in a landslide victory in November 2011 after socialist leader José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero called an early election and lost due to the general public's having held him and his party solely responsible for the financial crisis.
Related Topics
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