PP excused of tax crimes in Barcenas case, in pre-trial report

THE PP are to be acquitted of all tax crimes in the Barcenas case. 

The party will be let off the hook, despite prosecutors concluding that the PP used secret accounts to spend undeclared money.

Instead anti-corruption prosecutors have laid the blame at the feet of former treasures Luis Barcenas and Alvaro Lapuerta, calling for five year jail sentences for both.

The decision will no doubt cause controversy among opposition parties who feel the PP are inherently corrupt and to blame.

The prosecutors reached the decision after investigating claims that the PP kept an unofficial account for illegal financing purposes.

They also found no wrongdoing when the PP used over €888,000 in undeclared funds to pay for reform work at its Madrid headquarters.

The prosecution’s report concludes that the secret accounts did exist, but found that the party itself is not considered guilty of tax crimes.

A 190-page report submitted to the court last month concluded that the PP kept unofficial accounts between 1990 and 2008, using the undeclared money to fund election campaigns and give out secret bonuses to party officials.

Barcenas – who claims to have kept secret handwritten ledgers for his former employers – alleges that ‘everyone’ at the PP knew what was going on, including prime minister Mariano Rajoy.

A separate trial will now take place to determine the outcome of both Barcenas and Lapuerta.