Alex Trelinski
SPAIN’S anti-corruption prosecutor will investigate the country’s far-right Vox party after allegations of illegal financing practices.
Vox has denied the accusation, saying that it is the victim of ‘persecution’ and that its got ‘nothing to hide’.
The Socialist PSOE party made a complaint to the prosecutor in mid-December.
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It sent a dossier of claims surrounding collections of money put into donation boxes and receiving millions of euros from a Hungarian bank.
The PSOE claims that €4.6 million has been received by Vox in an ‘irregular way’.
Vox admitted in September to having received a €9.2 million loan from the Hungarian bank Magyar Bankholding which is owned by Lorinc Meszaros- a close friend of the country’s right-wing Prime Minister, Viktor Orban.
Spain’s political finance laws prohibit foreign governments, public institutions, or state-affiliated entities from funding political parties.
The PSOE complaint also refers to the sale of merchandise at Vox’s street stands as an ‘opaque’ means of fund-raising.
It argues that collecting anonymous donations and selling promotional items without proper financial records or receipts could breach legal regulations.
These practices allow funds to be mixed with other anonymous donations, which are recorded in amounts below €300 to avoid disclosing donor identities, the PSOE alleges.
Vox’s national spokesman, Jose Antonio Fuster, said on Monday that his party’s accounts are ‘clear and transparent’.
“We have absolutely nothing to hide, it is all included in our accounts and presented to the Court of Auditors,” he commented.
He added that ‘income from promotional activities is authorised by political party financing laws’.
In a blast at the PSOE, Fuster said: “We have a Socialist Party rotten with corruption that wants to stop a party from financing itself with money from the pockets of its supporters.”
