Luis Bárcenas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Luis Bárcenas
Ninot of Bárcenas in the Falles of 2013.
Elected Spanish Senator
for Cantabria
In office
14 March 2004 – 19 April 2010
Personal details
Born Luis Bárcenas Gutíerrez
(1957-10-22) October 22, 1957
Huelva, Spain
Nationality Spanish
Political party Partido Popular
Spouse(s) Rosalía Iglesias Villar[1]
Alma mater Comillas Pontifical University
Profession Businessman

Luis Bárcenas Gutiérrez (born August 22, 1957, in Huelva, Spain) is a Spanish politician in the Partido Popular (PP, People's Party). A former senator and party Treasurer, he has been embroiled in political corruption scandals and was imprisoned in 2013, pending trial.

Career

From 1990, he worked in the accounts department of the People's Party, rising to the post of Treasurer in 2008. He pursued a parallel career as a politician and in 2004 he was elected to the Senate representing Cantabria.[2] His time as treasurer was a short one as in 2009 he "temporarily" resigned when he was implicated in the Gürtel scandal. It was alleged that he was identifiable as a criminal known by the alias of "Luis el cabrón" and he was accused of "tax fraud and receiving illegal payments".[3] Bárcenas stood down from the Senate in 2010, and his resignation as treasurer was made definitive, but he continued to receive payments from the PP in circumstances which are the subject of dispute.[4]

Demonstration against Bárcenas on 2 February 2013 outside the People's Party headquarters.

The controversy surrounding him flared up in January 2013 when investigations into the Gürtel case revealed that he held a Swiss bank account that had contained €22 million.[2] (It later emerged that this was only part of the funds he controlled in that country).[5] Additionally, he admitted that he had used a tax amnesty in Spain the previous year to declare €10 million of hidden money.[2]

The Bárcenas papers

Main article: Bárcenas affair

In 2013 Spain's two main dailies, El País and El Mundo, alleged that unofficial parallel accounting hid slush money from illegal donations. Two former treasurers, including Bárcenas, allegedly used illegal donations "to make under-the-table payments to PP leaders".[6] The donations in question appeared to contravene party financing laws on two counts: first, for exceeding the 60,000-euro limit for any one individual or company; second, many alleged donors were involved in the construction sector and were simultaneously being awarded government contracts. However, there were indications that measures had been taken to keep donations within the letter of the law.[7]

El País published handwritten "secret ledgers" (purportedly kept by Bárcenas) suggesting that Mariano Rajoy, the Prime Minister of Spain, and María Dolores de Cospedal, the Secretary-General of the People's Party, received undeclared money.[2][8] Initially all implicated politicians, including Bárcenas, strongly denied any wrongdoing.[9] However, in July 2013 El Mundo reported that Bárcenas accepted there had been irregular funding of the People's Party.[10] Although it appeared Bárcenas was changing his defence strategy following imprisonment, Pedro J. Ramírez, editor of El Mundo, claimed that he had interviewed him while he was still free. Ramírez also complained that had become the subject of surveillance operations.[11]

Imprisonment

Facing a range of charges including tax fraud and money-laundering, on June 27, 2013 Bárcenas was sent to prison pending trial.[12] The decision not to grant bail was taken by judge Pablo Ruz to "avoid the risk of flight and ensure the preservation of sources of evidence".[13][14]

There has been speculation that the money Bárcenas kept in Switzerland was connected to party funding, but this has been denied by Bárcenas and the People's Party.[15] Bárcenas claims that the money came from his own business interests including art dealing, supposedly a cash rich activity.[16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ , Vanity Fair
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Another Blow". The Economist. 9 February 2013. 
  3. ↑ "Key Players: Spanish Ruling Party 'Slush Fund'". BBC. 6 February 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2013. 
  4. ↑ Bárcenas demanda al PP por despido improcedente. El País , Retrieved 26/02/2013.
  5. ↑ Luis Bárcenas: Spain People's Party's ex-treasurer in jail
  6. ↑ "Spain's Ruling Party to Probe Swiss Bank Account Scandal". EFE. 18 January 2013. 
  7. ↑ "Un constructor reconoce...", Publico
  8. ↑ "Spain Ruling Party Faces Inquiry Over 'Slush Fund'". BBC. 1 February 2013. 
  9. ↑ "Spain: Rajoy Man Barcenas Arrives for Questioning". BBC. 6 February 2013. 
  10. ↑ "Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy keeps counsel as corruption allegations fly". 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2013. 
  11. ↑ "El director...". Retrieved 18 August 2013. 
  12. ↑ Spain: Judge jails former ruling party treasurer." AP Online. Press Association, Inc. 2013. Retrieved via HighBeam Research. 9 Jul. 2013 (subscription required).
  13. ↑ "Bárcenas, en la cárcel. Prisión incondicional sin fianza para el ex tesorero del PP". El Mundo. 27 June 2013. Retrieved 4 de July de 2013. 
  14. ↑ "Auto del Juez de ingreso en prisión". Juzgado de Instrucción. 27 June 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013. 
  15. ↑ Jimenez, Miguel (3 February 2013). "Las claves de las notas de Bárcenas". El País (in Spanish). 
  16. ↑ Bárcenas viajó 15 veces a Suiza para depositar un total de 2,43 millones, El País
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.