Attorney general calls for “complete” ledger inquiry

Attorney General Eduardo Torres-Dulce said Thursday there are enough solid allegations surrounding the purported extra payments and illegal contributions within the ruling Popular Party (PP) to open “a thorough and exhaustive” investigation.

Speaking publicly for the first time about the party bookkeeping ledgers that supposedly record the payouts, Torres-Dulce said that the matter was in the hands of the anticorruption prosecutors who have been calling in witnesses over the past two days, including former PP treasurer Luis Bárcenas, whose handwriting appears in the ledgers.

“All the people who public prosecutors believe can contribute something to this investigation and help clear up the truth will be called by prosecutors before the courts,” Torres-Dulce said in Logroño, where he was attending a public event.

The latest witness to be called before anticorruption prosecutors was Álvaro Lapuerta, the 85-year-old former PP treasurer, who served from 1993 to 2008 before Bárcenas was given the job by current Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

According to judicial sources, Lapuerta on Thursday denied that there was any secret accounting at the PP.

Lapuerta also told prosecutors that he had never seen any of the balance sheets that have been published by EL PAÍS and allegedly written by Bárcenas.

Meanwhile, Gabriela Bravo, spokeswoman for the General Council of the Judiciary — Spain’s legal watchdog — said that the court system needs more money and personnel to fight corruption cases.