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The Gürtel case was a major
political corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, influen ...
scandal in
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
that implicated hundreds of officers of the People's Party (PP), Spain's major
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
party, some of whom were subsequently forced to resign or were suspended. Gürtel is one of the largest corruption scandals in recent European history and was linked to related scandals, such as the Bárcenas case, which received media attention in their own right. The case came to public attention in early 2009, but for the most part, the suspects were not put on trial until October 2016. The investigative operation was given the name Gürtel in a cryptic reference to one of the principal suspects, Francisco Correa Sánchez (''correa'', in Spanish, meaning "belt" in English, translates to ''Gürtel'' in German). Correa was a businessman who cultivated links with PP officers. The Spanish police began to investigate his activities in 2007, after a
whistle-blower Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...
, Ana Garrido Ramos, provided information regarding alleged corruption in the Madrid region. The accusations included
bribery Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...
,
money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...
, and
tax evasion Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to red ...
. They implicated a circle of business people led by Correa and politicians from the People's Party, although some of the evidence referred to participants by initials and nicknames, such as "Luis el Cabron". The alleged illicit activities related to party funding and the awarding of contracts by local/regional governments in
Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
, the
Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities and 50 provinces of Spain, provinces of Spain. It is located at the heart of the Iberian Peninsula and Meseta Central, Central Plateau (); its capital and largest munici ...
, and elsewhere. Early estimates of the loss to public finances amounted to at least €120,000,000, while some of the alleged bribes paid in return were not particularly large (for example, items of luxury clothing). On 24 May 2018, the
Audiencia Nacional The Audiencia Nacional (; ) is a high court in Spain with jurisdiction over all of the Spanish territory. It is specialised in certain kinds of crime, having original jurisdiction over major crimes such as those committed against the Crown and i ...
, Spain's highest criminal court, found dozens of people, as well as the ruling People's Party, guilty of fraud, money laundering, and illegal kickbacks.


Judicial process

A judicial investigation was started by
Baltasar Garzón Baltasar Garzón Real (; born 26 October 1955) is a Spanish former judge in Spain's central criminal court, the '' Audiencia Nacional'' responsible for investigation the most serious criminal cases, including terrorism, organised crime, crimes ...
, the
examining magistrate An examining magistrate is a judge in an inquisitorial system of law who carries out pre- trial investigations into allegations of crime and in some cases makes a recommendation for prosecution. Also known as an investigating magistrate, inquisit ...
of the Juzgado Central de Instrucción No. 5, the court which investigates the most important criminal cases in Spain, including terrorism,
organised crime Organized crime is a category of transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a form of illegal business, some ...
, and money laundering. Garzón had five suspects, including Correa, detained in February 2009. Garzón was suspended as a judge in 2010, pending his own trial on a charge of exceeding his authority with regard to a case unrelated to Gürtel (his investigation into
Francoist Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...
crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...
). This particular suspension was eventually overturned, but it was still in force when, in 2011, Garzón was given another suspension, this time pending trial for having violated lawyer-client privilege in the Gürtel case (he had recorded conversations between detained suspects and their lawyers). The case was reassigned to Judge . In the summer of 2011, Pedreira set bail for Correa at €15,000,000, reportedly the second largest figure in Spanish legal history. Correa's legal team appealed, saying that the amount was not based on an objective assessment of their client's wealth, as Correa's access to some accounts had been blocked, and there was uncertainty about how much wealth he held abroad. Correa was released on bail in June 2012, by which time Pedreira, who was suffering from
Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...
, had been replaced by the third judge to handle the case, Pablo Ruz. Ruz reduced the sum required to 200,000 euros, a reduction reflecting not only the accused's perceived ability to pay but also the length of time he had been held on remand, which was approaching the maximum possible under Spanish law. The investigation took a long time for various reasons, including the number of suspects and delays in receiving information from foreign banks. In 2014, Judge Ruz announced he was in a position to proceed against 45 suspects, after dividing the case into different "epochs", the first one relating to crimes allegedly committed in the period 1999–2005.After five years, judge wraps up portion of huge Gürtel corruption investigation
''El Pais''
However, Ruz had been taken off the case by the time the first part came to trial, in 2016.


Gürtel in Valencia

A case involving the Valencian branch of the alleged network went to court relatively quickly. It was known in the press as the "suitgate" affair, as it involved allegations regarding suits supposedly given to prominent Valencian politician Francisco Camps. After a partial dismissal in 2009, the
Supreme Court of Spain The Supreme Court ('', TS'') is the Supreme court, highest court in the Spain, Kingdom of Spain. The court has original jurisdiction over cases against high-ranking officials of the Kingdom and over cases regarding the legalization of political p ...
ordered it to be reopened. In 2011, Camps resigned as Valencian premier and leader of the Valencian Partido Popular in order to avoid standing trial while in office. Camps was found not guilty in 2012,"Camps y Costa, no culpables."
''El Pais'', 25 January 2012.
and the verdict was upheld on appeal. However, the case was seen as having damaged Camps' career. In January 2018, Ricardo Costa, an ex PPCV officer, admitted that his party was financed with "dirty money". This admission became for the inquiry into "associations" of the provinces of Castellón, Valencia and Alicante.


2018 verdict

On 24 May 2018, several Spanish politicians and business people, including Correa, his lieutenant Pablo Crespo, and former Spanish treasurer Luis Bárcenas, were convicted in the Gürtel case. Correa was sentenced to 51 years in prison, while Crespo was jailed for 37 years and six months. Bárcenas, a close ally of Spanish Prime Minister
Mariano Rajoy Mariano Rajoy Brey (, ; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 2011 to 2018, when a 2018 vote of no confidence in the government of Mariano Rajoy, vote of no confidence ousted his government. A m ...
, received a 33-year sentence and a fine of €44m. Bárcenas's wife, Rosalía Iglesias, was jailed for 15 years, and Correa's ex-wife, Carmen Rodríguez Quijano, for 14 years and eight months. It was also decreed that the ruling People's Party had taken part in the kickback scheme since 1989. Of the 37 individuals charged, 29 were convicted, while 8 were acquitted. Following this, on 1 June, Prime Minister Rajoy was ousted by a
vote of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...
.


Media coverage

Prior to 2013, reactions to Gürtel often divided along party political lines, with more conservative media downplaying the significance of the allegations. Spain's highest-circulation daily newspaper, centre-left ''
El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...
'', which traditionally supports the
PSOE The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...
, won a major press award (an
Ortega y Gasset Ortega is a Spanish surname. A baptismal record in 1570 records a ''de Ortega'' "from the village of Ortega". There were several villages of this name in Spain. The toponym derives from Latin ''urtica'', meaning 'nettle'. Some of the Ortega spe ...
) in 2010 for
investigative journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend m ...
relating to Gürtel. '' Público'', a newspaper with a more left-wing stance than ''El País'', also gave much coverage to the case. In 2013, the picture became more complicated, as the Barcenas case started dividing the electorate of the People's Party. While the conservative '' ABC'' kept toeing the party line, the centre-right '' El Mundo'' carried some of the major revelations about the case.


Corruption and transparency in Spain

It has been argued that the underlying problem is not a party political one but rather a system that does not require transparency in the awarding of contracts. Spain occupied the fortieth place in
Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil s ...
's
Corruption Perceptions Index The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index that scores and ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as assessed by experts and business executives. The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entr ...
of 2013 (having dropped from thirtieth place). In 2016, Spain's first anti-corruption commission began work.


Bárcenas papers

January 2013 saw major revelations regarding the activities of Luis Bárcenas, the former treasurer of the Partido Popular. The Spanish justice system released information from Swiss authorities regarding his financial dealings in Switzerland, and the press reported on alleged slush funds run for the benefit of the Partido Popular. The allegations of illegal party funding came initially from ''El Mundo'', Spain's leading centre-right newspaper, which is normally close to the Partido Popular. It alleged that secret donations had been used for under-the-table payments ("backhanders") to party officials.
EFE Agencia EFE, S.A. () is a Spanish international news agency, the major Spanish language, Spanish-language multimedia news agency and the world's fourth largest wire service after the Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. EFE was ...

"Spain's Ruling Party to Probe Swiss Bank Account Scandal."
in ''
Latin American Herald Tribune The ''Latin American Herald Tribune'' (''LAHT'') is an online-only newspaper with headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela. It targets English-reading audiences interested in news about Latin America. The publication identifies itself as the successo ...
''
Citing sources within the Partido Popular, the newspaper appeared to clear its current leadership, saying that the reported payments were made between 1989 and 2009. On 31 January, ''El País'' published facsimiles of handwritten accounts, allegedly from Barcenas' hand and detailing slush funds, which report a total of 250,000 euros illegally paid to former prime minister Mariano Rajoy."Spain corruption scandal turns up heat on PM Rajoy."
Reuters, 31 January 2013
Castro, Iren

eldiario.es
The alleged funds came mostly from private
building construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...
companies, like
FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains ju ...
and OHL. This, if the allegations are confirmed, would raise additional questions around Spain's building boom. While the PP filed a defamation lawsuit against ''El País'' (which it subsequently dropped), it took no action against ''El Mundo''. Attorney General Eduardo Torres-Dulce ordered the anti-corruption prosecutor to investigate any possible links between the alleged payments handed out to Partido Popular officials and case filings in the Gürtel case. In 2014, ''El País'' commented that it is hard to draw a clear line between the two cases—Gürtel and Barcenas. However, the cases are being processed separately by Spanish courts.


References


Further reading

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gurtel case Politics of Spain Political scandals in Spain Corruption in Spain 2009 in Spain 2010 in Spain 2011 in Spain 2012 in Spain 2013 in Spain 2014 in Spain 2015 in Spain 2016 in Spain 2017 in Spain 2000s crimes in Spain 2010s crimes in Spain Trials in Spain