Gürtel case

Francisco Camps and Ricardo Costa

A judicial investigation was started by Baltasar Garzón, the examining magistrate of the Juzgado Central de Instrucción No. 5, the court which investigates the most important criminal cases in Spain, including terrorism, organised crime, and money laundering. Garzón had five suspects, including Correa, detained in February 2009.

Garzón was suspended as a judge in 2010, pending his own trial on a charge of exceeding his authority with regard to a case unrelated to Gürtel (his investigation into Francoist crimes against humanity). This particular suspension was eventually overturned, but it was still in force when, in 2011, Garzón was given another suspension, this time pending trial for having violated lawyer-client privilege in the Gürtel case (he had recorded conversations between detained suspects and their lawyers).[7][8]

The case was reassigned to Judge Antonio Pedreira Andrade. In the summer of 2011, Pedreira set bail for Correa at €15,000,000, reportedly the second largest figure in Spanish legal history.[9] Correa's legal team appealed, saying that the amount was not based on an objective assessment of their client's wealth, as Correa's access to some accounts had been blocked, and there was uncertainty about how much wealth he held abroad. Correa was released on bail in June 2012, by which time Pedreira, who was suffering from Parkinson's disease, had been replaced by the third judge to handle the case, Pablo Ruz. Ruz reduced the sum required to 200,000 euros, a reduction reflecting not only the accused's perceived ability to pay but also the length of time he had been held on remand, which was approaching the maximum possible under Spanish law.[10]

The investigation took a long time for various reasons, including the number of suspects and delays in receiving information from foreign banks. In 2014, Judge Ruz announced he was in a position to proceed against 45 suspects, after dividing the case into different "epochs", the first one relating to crimes allegedly committed in the period 1999–2005.[11] However, Ruz had been taken off the case by the time the first part came to trial, in 2016.

Caricature of Álvaro Pérez, known as El Bigotes (the mustache). He was one of the people convicted in relation to activities in Valencia.

Prior to 2013, reactions to Gürtel often divided along party political lines, with more conservative media downplaying the significance of the allegations. Spain's highest-circulation daily newspaper, centre-left El País, which traditionally supports the PSOE, won a major press award (an Ortega y Gasset) in 2010 for investigative journalism relating to Gürtel.[19] Público, a newspaper with a more left-wing stance than El País, also gave much coverage to the case.

In 2013, the picture became more complicated, as the Barcenas case started dividing the electorate of the People's Party. While the conservative ABC kept toeing the party line, the centre-right El Mundo carried some of the major revelations about the case.[20]

It has been argued that the underlying problem is not a party political one but rather a system that does not require transparency in the awarding of contracts.[21] Spain occupied the fortieth place in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index of 2013 (having dropped from thirtieth place).[22][23] In 2016, Spain's first anti-corruption commission began work.[24]

January 2013 saw major revelations regarding the activities of Luis Bárcenas, the former treasurer of the Partido Popular. The Spanish justice system released information from Swiss authorities regarding his financial dealings in Switzerland, and the press reported on alleged slush funds run for the benefit of the Partido Popular. The allegations of illegal party funding came initially from El Mundo, Spain's leading centre-right newspaper, which is normally close to the Partido Popular. It alleged that secret donations had been used for under-the-table payments ("backhanders") to party officials.[25] Citing sources within the Partido Popular, the newspaper appeared to clear its current leadership, saying that the reported payments were made between 1989 and 2009.[26]

Demonstration in front of the People's Party headquarters protesting against the Barcenas affair (2 February 2013).

On 31 January, El País published facsimiles of handwritten accounts, allegedly from Barcenas' hand and detailing slush funds, which report a total of 250,000 euros illegally paid to former prime minister Mariano Rajoy.[27][28] The alleged funds came mostly from private building construction companies, like FCC and OHL. This, if the allegations are confirmed, would raise additional questions around Spain's building boom.[27] While the PP filed a defamation lawsuit against El País (which it subsequently dropped), it took no action against El Mundo. Attorney General Eduardo Torres-Dulce ordered the anti-corruption prosecutor to investigate any possible links between the alleged payments handed out to Partido Popular officials and case filings in the Gürtel case. In 2014, El País commented that it is hard to draw a clear line between the two cases—Gürtel and Barcenas.[29] However, the cases are being processed separately by Spanish courts.

• Tremlett, Giles. "Spanish opposition party rocked by corruption scandal". The Guardian. No. 6 March 2009.
• Edwards, Sam. "Spain's Watergate: inside the corruption scandal that changed a nation". The Guardian. No. 1 March 2019.
• "Gürtel portal". 20 minutos (in Spanish).