http://www.businessinsider.com/spanish-prime-minister-addresses-scandal-via-monitor-2013-2
Man , once you become the subject of ridicule , it's just over for you a a politician........
http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/02/03/inenglish/1359916422_565668.html
http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/02/03/inenglish/1359918901_728247.html
SPAIN'S PM FACES HUGE CORRUPTION SCANDAL — Internet Explodes With Mockery Over This Image
Suddenly, the Spanish government is swirling in a massive corruption scandal.
Late last week, the Spanish newspaper El Pais published documents, which purport to show that the party of ruling PM Mariano Rajoy has been taking illegal donations for years.
Opposition politicians are calling on Rajoy to resign, a move that would bring unwanted political instability to one of the Euro's most vulnerable nations.
Rajoy is remaining defiant, and yesterday he held an emergency televised address to rebuke the claims.
However, this image of reporters covering Rajoy via monitor is being used to make him look like a coward.
The internet is having a field day.
Via @daraconn2, here's a fake image of Rajoy having a press conference with Angela Merkel
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And via Juan de Lorescha, here's Rajoy getting the adulation of his party.
And here's a crude comparison of Obama and Rajoy.
For Obama it says: Here's A President Appearing.
For Rajoy, it says: Here's A F*&(ing Disgrace.
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Spain's IBEX fell 1.6% on Friday amid this growing issue, more banking sector losses, and the end of a short-selling ban.
Watch this space on Monday.
Man , once you become the subject of ridicule , it's just over for you a a politician........
http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/02/03/inenglish/1359916422_565668.html
Attorney general orders investigation to see if PP payments link to Gürtel inquiry
Prosecutors have already asked Judge Ruz to subpoena Bárcenas to give a statement concerning his Swiss accounts and the tax amnesty which he applied for last year
EL PAÍS Madrid 3 FEB 2013 - 19:34 CET
Attorney General Eduardo Torres-Dulce has ordered the anti-corruption prosecutor to investigate any possible links between the alleged payments handed out to Popular Party (PP) officials and case filings in the massive ongoing kickbacks-for-contracts scheme known as the Gürtel case.
Last week, chief prosecutor Antonio Romeral began looking for any connections before EL PAÍS began publishing copies of Luis Bárcenas’ ledgers. Now, with new evidence on the table, the prosecutor must determine whether crimes were committed in the handout of these cash bonuses or if any of the PP leaders who appear in the former treasurer’s lists should be prosecuted.
As of now, the attorney general has objected looking into the handouts of money until it is determined who received them, what crimes may have been committed and if there is any relation with the Gürtel ongoing investigation.
“The possible existence of a so-call ‘B’ account at the Popular Party, as well as, in this case, the source of funds and their destination, is being investigated in the 1/2013 informative proceedings to be handled in this open anticorruption inquiry dated January 24, 2013. So, should there be connection to the facts of this case, evidence will immediately be turned over the judge in this case [High Court Judge Pablo Ruz],” according to the prosecution’s statement.
Sources at the Attorney General’s Office said that in order that the PP payments become a separate investigation from the Gürtel case there must be evidence that the money was connected to Bárcenas’ alleged Swiss account in which he had stashed away 22 million.
Prosecutors have already asked Judge Ruz to subpoena Bárcenas to give a statement concerning his Swiss accounts and the tax amnesty which he applied for last year.
If there is no relation to the Gürtel case, another court, such as a Madrid provincial court or even the Supreme Court, can assume jurisdiction, the sources said.
Prosecution sources also explain that if any of the payments made to PP officials were not declared to the tax agency AEAT, only violations to the tax code could be filed or crimes against the treasury if the amount exceeded 120,000 euros. But if it does not exceed that amount, it would simply be a tax violation that would result in a penalty owed to Treasury.
Even though EL PAÍS has been publishing details handwritten by Bárcenas concerning the pay outs, which could have been in violation of the political party financing laws, Torres-Dulce on Friday appeared to be leaning in favor of opening a separate investigation into Bárcenas’ ledgers.
http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/02/03/inenglish/1359918901_728247.html
Socialists demand PM resign after more slush fund details emerge
Rubalcaba says Rajoy’s permanence only serves to “aggravate current crisis” as PP accuses opposition leader of cashing in on the situation
With new details surfacing concerning payoffs the Popular Party leadership received from a secret slush fund, Socialist leader Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba on Sunday call for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s resignation saying that he “isn’t fit to govern the country at such a delicate time.”
"His permanence as head of government will only serve to aggravate the current political crisis. We are asking that he step down as prime minister and open the way for another prime minister who can re-establish the trust, security and stability that Spain needs at this time,” Rubalcaba said.
Not since the 1980s, when then-PP leader José María Aznar demanded that Socialist Prime Minister Felipe González, whose government was racked by corruption scandals, step down has an opposition leader demanded a prime minister’s resignation. Rubalcaba didn’t explain if the Socialists will push for early elections or present a censure motion in Congress.
With the country rocked by allegations of payoffs that PP leaders, including Rajoy, got money aside from their official salaries for 18 years, tensions among the political and social sectors have increased over the past several days.
On Saturday, Rajoy spoke for the first time about the accounting information contained in a set of ledgers prepared by his former party treasurer Luis Bárcenas and published by EL PAÍS. Rajoy called the information “false” and vowed to stay on as prime minister.
Answering Rubalcaba’s call, PP deputy secretary general Esteban González Pons accused the Socialist leader of “taking advantage of the situation” and provoking “street agitation.”
and......
http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/02/03/inenglish/1359895065_637140.html
Bárcenas’ PP slush fund notes show illegal financing in Galicia
Key Gürtel network figure paid €126,000 to "national HQ" in 1999
The secret ledgers kept by former Popular Party (PP) treasurer Luis Bárcenas show a large deposit made in 1999 by one of the main figures in the Gürtel case, a major kickbacks-for-contracts network. The 21 million pesetas (126,000 euros) were handed to Bárcenas by Pablo Crespo, then organization secretary for the Galician PP.
Although national PP leaders have denied the veracity of the secret accounts maintained by Bárcenas - himself implicated in the Gürtel case - and published by EL PAÍS, that 21-million-peseta deposit coincides exactly with an item in the Galician PP's accounting, which police found in a safe deposit box when Crespo was arrested in 2009.
These seized documents show a note dated May 1999 that said "21,000,000. National headquarters. Payment outstanding debt." That same amount was recorded by Bárcenas in May 1999 under the note: "P. Crespo. 21,000,000."Besides this item, Bárcenas' secret ledgers show numerous donations, mostly by construction tycoons, that violated party finance law - either because they went over the limit or because they came from individuals or businesses that were banned from being donors.
From 1997 to 2008, the ledgers also show that much of this incoming money was later used for payouts to PP leaders, including prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who allegedly accepted them as undeclared bonuses aside from their official salaries.
The conservative party was holding an emergency meeting on Friday to try to find a common strategy to stem the growing suspicion regarding the likelihood of illegal party financing.In 2009, while he was in prison over the Gürtel case, Crespo talked to his lawyer about the scandal there would be if news of the Galician PP's accounts ever came to light.
He asked when illegal party financing crimes expired, and his lawyer replied that it was 10 years.In its report to the judge, the police wrote that "the funds destined for the payment generated by that political group come from resources outside financial circuits, and might come from third parties who are financing the party's events with money outside economic circuits."
and......
http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/02/03/inenglish/1359913280_152138.html
Rajoy appears more often in Bárcenas’ ledgers than other PP officials
Thousands hold nightly demonstrations in front of party headquarters across Spain
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who vehemently denied on Saturday that he received any money from a reported slush fund controlled by the party’s treasurers, is the Popular Party (PP) official whose name appears the most among the secret ledgers, which record amounts of cash paid out to leaders over a 12-year period.
Rajoy’s name appears in 35 bookkeeping entries with a total of 322,231 euros paid out to him. These budgetary items in the ledgers prepared by former treasurer Luis Bárcenas, however, are separate from other allotments Rajoy received for perks such as clothing allowances that amounted to another 33,207 euros.
Although some quarterly entries by Bárcenas show that other PP leaders at the time, such as former secretary generals Francisco Álvarez Cascos and Javier Arenas, got higher amounts than the now-prime minister, Rajoy is the only official who has remained continuously in the PP’s national committee from 1997 to 2008 — the period in which the bulk of the ledgers covered.
The secrets contained in the ledgers kept by Bárcenas — and which have become the focus of international media coverage and global speculation over whether these revelation can bring down Spain’s conservative government — have put the PP in a delicate situation.
Since Thursday night, thousands of citizens have taken to the streets in Madrid, Barcelona and Zaragoza demanding that Rajoy and the PP government step down. Police have blocked off a wide section of Genova Street in Madrid, where the PP’s national headquarters is located and where demonstrators have been gathering throughout the weekend.
“He must come to terms with the people and step down,” said a 66-year-old retired government employee on Saturday night.
Faced with a severe credibility crisis, the Rajoy administration has promised a full internal audit of its accounts plus a review of its findings by external auditors. Many of the PP’s top leaders, including former regional premier Esperanza Aguirre, who continues to be a party heavyweight, demanded legal action against Bárcenas during Saturday’s emergency national executive committee meeting.
“We have to go after those who have been laughing at us and who have caused us a lot of grief,” said Juan Vicente Herrera, premier of Castilla y León.
José Ramón Bauza, the Balearic Islands premier, said that the party should not cave in to “blackmail.”
“We are under a state of siege, but the problem doesn’t come from those who are screaming from the outside. The problem resides among those of us who are disillusioned,” Aguirre said.
Following Rajoy’s brief address the scandal related to Bárcenas’ bookkeeping — a news conference which reporters were forced to follow on a television screen in an adjacent room and not permitted to ask any questions — many PP leaders said they were surprised that the prime minister didn’t openly attack Bárcenas.
Publicly, PP officials are putting in doubt the authenticity of Barcenás’ ledgers and have attacked EL PAÍS for publishing them. But privately, they have placed themselves on the defensive: “Bárcenas is an imposter who has been stealing from the party all these years,” said one official.
In an opinion poll published by EL PAÍS on Sunday showed neither of the two big parties could win a clear majority if an election was held today. Metroscopia polling firm said that the PP had 23.9 percent support — the lowest on record and down from 29.8 percent in last month’s survey. The Socialists continued with about the same amount of support as the last poll, with 23.5 percent approval.
For some time, Rajoy has known that Bárcenas was a time bomb ticking away. It was the PP leader who promoted him to treasurer in June 2008 during a party convention. He had been a finance manager for the PP under then-treasurer Álvaro Lapuerta and was well aware of all of the PP’s financing schemes. He knew the names of all the businessmen who contributed to the party, and those who should be given favors for their help.
The day that Bárcenas was named as an official target in the massive Gürtel kickback-for-contracts investigation in 2009, Rajoy knew right off hand that he could turn into a public menace for the party. If the time bomb went off, Rajoy’s goal to become prime minister would be blown to smithereens.
Bárcenas, who stepped down temporarily as treasurer in 2009 and permanently in January 2010, was allowed to keep his office and secretary at the party headquarters. Rajoy wanted to keep an eye the man who knew a lot of party secrets.
After Madrid High Court Judge Antonio Pedreira dropped the Gürtel charges against him — saying that it was Bárcenas who had warned the party about the Gürtel conspirators — anti-corruption prosecutors filed their appeal with the national High Court, which accepted reopening the case.
Barcénas had thought he would be able to return to the echelons of power after the PP won the November 2011 elections. But with the renewed charges filed against him, the former treasurer felt he had been left out in the cold by the party. They had already taken away his attorney’s fees after EL PAÍS broke a story on the matter.
At one point, Barcenás told Judge Pedreira that he felt the entire legal system and the Spanish state were out to get him.
The situation came to a head when Swiss authorities alerted Spanish investigators that they had found 22 million euros in an account linked to Bárcenas name. The scandal grew worse when El Mundo published a report about the side payments that many PP leaders had received on a regular basis throughout the years, but the newspaper pointed out the neither Rajoy nor María Dolores de Cospedal, the PP secretary general, received them.
Then, EL PAÍS published that the handouts began when José María Aznar took over the presidency — allegations that were the basis of a column by former PP Deputy Jorge Trías Sagnier last month and then in a later interview.
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