FORMER treasurer for the PP Luis Bárcenas is appealing against a judge's decision to force him to hand in his passport and report to the court every two weeks.
Pablo Ruz, handling the slush fund case, considered there was a real risk of the accused fleeing the country.
Bárcenas' Swiss bank accounts contain 22 million euros, but had held as much as 38 million in the past in order to avoid paying taxes.
The origin of the funds is not known, but the ex-treasurer insists he 'got lucky' on the stock market and sold various works of art, and that the money also came from two estate agency businesses he owned.
Account documents show that the PP party at national level received 33 million euros in donations between 1999 and 2007, of which 23.7 million came from anonymous benefactors.
It is thought some of these may be construction firms bribing politicians to get building jobs.
Bárcenas is also accused of paying top-flight PP members cash-in-hand extra wages over a 10-year period.
These politicians, who include Spain's president Mariano Rajoy, deny ever receiving money in envelopes.
The accused is also suing the PP for unfair dismissal as he claims he continued working for the party for nearly 18 months after they say his employment had been terminated.
A leading union says he has a good case and is likely to be successful, which would mean he could claim dole money.
But Bárcenas has assured the nation that he has no intention of signing up to claim jobseekers' allowance.
