Gürtel tapes show ring bribed PP politicians

Transcripts of taped conversations between defendants in the Gürtel corruption case and their legal representatives, ordered by Judge Baltasar Garzón, have been handed to prosecutors and defense lawyers in the case, shedding new light on the extent of the crooked network's reach.

The tapes, which were recorded in prison, have been censored in transcript form but contain evidence that Gürtel ringleaders bribed Popular Party politicians, and that their lawyers accessed funds from unfrozen sources linked to the network to provide for the jailed men's families.

The leader of the Gürtel ring, Francisco Correa, who is on remand under 15-million-euro bail, learned of the tapes while in prison. "Let's see if we can have a conversation as the Constitution dictates, in private and unrecorded," he told his lawyer.