PP gets rid of inspectors who broke Gürtel fraud scheme

Mariano Rajoy's Popular Party (PP) government has gotten rid of workers at a key anti-fraud office who were responsible for high-profile corruption probes into PP members.

Among those fired from the National Office of Fraud Investigations (ONIF), a branch of the internal revenue agency AEAT, was chief investigator Víctor de la Morena, who was in charge of many criminal probes, including the Gürtel kickbacks-for-contracts scheme and the ongoing case against royal son-in-law Iñaki Urdangarin.

Almost all of the tax inspectors, who were not political appointees, have also been replaced. Until now, when new governments assume office, only the ONIF chief and deputy director had been replaced, not the entire division. Finance Ministry officials called the change in staff a routine matter.

Santiago Menéndez, who was head of the revenue collection division at AEAT during Prime Minister José María Aznar's government, is the new ONIF director.

As part of the shake-up in tax inspection, Treasury officials will be going after some of the country's rich and famous sports figures and actors who are suspected of tax evasion. According to the official Spanish gazette (BOE), tax agency AETA is "paying special attention" to those who have earned money but have not reported it and those who list deductibles as work expenses when in fact they are personal expenses.

One of the biggest celebrated tax fraud cases in Spain took place in the late 1980s when the late flamenco dancer Lola Flores had to pay a multi-million euro fine for not reporting all her earnings. More recently, singers such as Ana Torroja and Alejandro Sanz, as well as dancer Joaquín Cortés, have been audited by treasury officials.

Tennis pro Rafael Nadal is also reportedly being investigated after he was ordered to change the tax listing for his companies, which he had based in the Basque Country for a lower rate.

Treasury officials also say that they are keeping an eye out for large cash transactions that are not reported, such as operations between companies.