"I never ask for a receipt when I pay"

The regional premier of the Valencian region, Francisco Camps, has reason to celebrate his re-election at the polls two Sundays ago, despite being dogged by a corruption scandal that will not go away.

But if his constituency was willing to overlook the possibility that he accepted expensive gifts from a business network in exchange for lucrative government contracts, the courts are not.

Camps is just one step away from sitting in the dock over the Gürtel case, an extensive bribes-for-contracts scheme run by a businessman with close links to the Popular Party (PP), to which the Valencian premier belongs. The 48-year-old politician, who has headed this Mediterranean region since 2003, will be tried for allegedly accepting tailored suits from Álvaro Pérez (aka "El Bigotes"), the chief of the Gürtel network in Valencia, where the ring was awarded contracts worth millions of euros and apparently also helped the regional PP secure illegal funding.

On May 20, 2009, Camps had to answer questions from a judge and from the anti-corruption attorney's office. What follows is a summary of the interrogation.

Judge. Do you have a special relationship of friendship with Álvaro Pérez?

Camps. No, his relationship throughout all these years has been with the party. He is the person who organized party events, and my relationship \[with him\] always centered around big party events in the Valencia region, because I always like to supervise the design, the concept, the podiums, the lighting, in order to lend a air of modernity to the party events. The party confided in him during these years, and that is the only relationship I have had with him.

J. It seems that, following instructions from this man, or else in his company, you went to an establishment in Madrid to order some clothes. Is this correct?

C. Well, at one point ? it must have been during a party meeting ? he said he knew someone in a Madrid store who had a tailor's shop, and who adapted ready-made suits that fitted quite well for a very good price. One day when I was in Madrid, I dropped by the store, met Mr Tomás, introduced myself, and that is how it happened.

Prosecutor. You say you used cash to pay. Do you have any receipts or documents to prove that you paid in cash?

C. I paid and I took the suit home. And if nobody asked me for the suit back, it's because I paid for the suit that I took home.

P. And you never requested a receipt, given your position, in the event that one day you might need it?

C. That's precisely why. For many years now I have never asked for a receipt when I pay for things so people won't think I'm later charging it to the public accounts. That's also why I don't use a credit card, ever. My wife does. (...) I've occasionally taken taxis in Valencia and obviously I never asked for a receipt, like many public servants or people who work for companies do, so that nobody will think that there is some kind of account that pays for suits, or coffees or anything else.

Defense attorney. Why don't you use your personal credit card, you could have gone to Forever Young (the tailor's shop) and paid with that?

C. Because I never do, because it works out better at home like that, and because, like I said, I think that in the collective imagination, for politicians to use credit cards makes it seem like the card was linked to an expenses account.

D. So you don't want people to see you using the card because of an image issue?

C. Yes. In the end, you're taking decisions about your image, aren't you? The way you dress, the way you are, the way you behave.