Giving evidence in fraud and bribery case, Rajoy denies any knowledge of illegal funding racket within ruling People’s party

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, became the first serving Spanish premier to testify in a criminal case on Wednesday when he emphatically denied any knowledge of an illegal funding racket within the ruling People’s party.

Rajoy, the PP’s vice secretary general between 1990 and 2003, had been called to give evidence in the Gürtel case, in which 37 business and political figures were accused of involvement in a kickbacks-for-contracts scheme.

The prime minister is not accused of any wrongdoing, but the case has become emblematic of the many corruption scandals that have engulfed the PP over recent years.

Rajoy, who appeared as a witness in the long-running trial, insisted that his duties during the period in question were exclusively political and not financial. He said he had not been aware of the illegal financing scheme or cash donations from anonymous backers.

“I never heard anything because, as I have said, I was never in charge of financial matters within the party,” he told the court. Rajoy said there had been a clear division between his role in planning local, national and European election campaigns, and the activities of the PP’s financial officers.

Among the accused is the former PP treasurer Luis Bárcenas, once a close ally of Rajoy, who has claimed that high-level party officials knew about the illegal contributions.

In often fractious exchanges with lawyers, Rajoy said suggestions that a slush fund was used to pay illegal bonuses to senior PP officials were “absolutely false”.

He explained that “quite a lot” of the party’s MPs had had their salaries topped up by the PP – and had declared the sums to the tax authorities – but said such payments ceased when they took up a government post.

Rajoy was also asked about the supportive text messages he sent Bárcenas after his ally found himself in legal trouble. They famously told him to “be strong” and suggested the party was “doing what we can”.

Invited to explain what he had meant, Rajoy replied: “I’m in the habit of replying to messages and he had my number. I could have used that phrase or any other one; it doesn’t mean anything.”

He went on: “‘We’re doing what we can’ means precisely that we’re doing what we can; it means we didn’t do anything that might have prejudiced any trial.”

Rajoy’s arrival at the court in San Fernando de Henares was met with a battery of journalists and dozens of protesters bearing signs reading: “Justice! Justice!” and “Mafia Out! Democracy in!”

The case is known as Gürtel after the codename that detectives gave their anti-corruption inquiry, which centred on Francisco Correa, a businessman with close ties to the PP who is accused of paying bribes to party officials between 1999 and 2006 in return for contracts to carry out public contracts. Gürtel is the German translation of correa (belt).

Rajoy told the court he had severed the party’s relationship with Correa’s businesses in 2004 after learning that the businessman had been misusing the party’s name.

He added: “The truth is I didn’t know [Correa]. But I’m absolutely sure that I saw him at a public event once. I had absolutely no dealings with him.”

Correa – who enjoyed being called Don Vito in reference to the Marlon Brando character in The Godfather – is accused of misusing public funds and setting up offshore accounts to keep millions of euros at a safe remove.



The scandal which has enveloped the PP since 2009 led to the resignation three years ago of the health minister, Ana Mato. Her ex-husband, Jesús Sepúlveda, is on trial for embezzlement, fraud and peddling influence while mayor of Pozuelo de Alarcón, west of Madrid.

The family is alleged to have accepted holidays, presents including Louis Vuitton products, a Jaguar and even children’s birthday parties at which clowns performed from Correa’s companies.

The leader of Spain’s opposition parties were quick to attack Rajoy’s performance in the witness box.

Pedro Sanchez, head of the Spanish socialist party, said it was a “black day for our democracy. For the first time, a prime minister has had to sit down and testify about corruption in his party.”



Two of Rajoy’s predecessors – Adolfo Suárez and Felipe González – were involved in separate trials but only after serving as prime minister.

Pablo Iglesias, leader of the anti-austerity Podemos party, criticised Rajoy for the “insolent” tone of some of his replies, tweeting: “Spain doesn’t deserve this disgrace. We need to get them out of government.”