Bench fight ignites over Popular Party slush fund inquiry

The High Court's internal battle over jurisdiction into the investigation of the alleged Popular Party (PP) accounting ledgers and the existence of a slush fund reached new heights on Tuesday when a judge officially called on one of his colleagues to recuse himself from the ongoing inquiry.

Judges Javier Gómez Bermúdez and Pablo Ruz have both been conducting separate investigations into the balance sheets allegedly penned by former treasurer Luis Bárcenas, who is also being probed on a host of corruption allegations, including money laundering, tax evasion and receiving kickbacks.

To avoid "duplication," Gómez Bermúdez said that Ruz should give up his inquiry concerning the PP's supposed slush fund.

Judge Ruz is in charge of the massive Gürtel kickbacks-for-contracts inquiry that has ensnared a host of officials from local and regional PP governments in Valencia, Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha.

Despite police conclusions, Gómez Bermúdez asked Ruz to recuse himself

A group of businessmen, led by Francisco Correa, who reportedly paid PP politicians fat sums for juicy public contracts, are also facing a number of charges, including fraud.

Bárcenas was named as an official target in July 2009 just months after the Gürtel case broke, and he officially stepped down as PP treasurer in January 2010.

He was once again drawn into the public spotlight when Swiss investigators discovered that he had 22 million euros stashed in offshore accounts.

The case took a new direction when on January 31 EL PAÍS published PP ledgers compiled over a period of 18 years that show party officials, including Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and secretary general María Dolores de Cospedal, receiving fat bonuses on top of their regular salaries. Rajoy is recorded as receiving over 320,000 euros during this period. The balance sheets also show generous contributions made by several major names in the private sector.

Charging that the ledgers are fake, Rajoy and other PP officials have denied the allegations.

By his own account, Bárcenas acknowledged before Ruz, who called him in to testify earlier this month, that he had had up to 33 million euros stashed in offshore banks. But he explained that the money was made through investments and from real estate and art sales abroad, and was in no way connected to the PP. He also said that the ledgers were fake.

But Ruz has sided with conclusions by the police UDEF financial crimes unit that some of the amounts and dates that appear in the ledgers coincide with figures jotted in papers kept by Correa's accountant, who prosecutors believe recorded all the kickback amounts made to politicians connected to Gürtel. The judge said that there is strong evidence there could be links, and has ordered the PP to produce its accounts from 1990 to 1999 as well as any information regarding party donations it accepted between 1990 and 2011.

At the same time the United Left (IU) bloc filed a formal complaint against Bárcenas, the PP and the businessmen whose names appear on the ledgers, alleging, among other things, violations of Spain's Law of Party Financing. Among the businessmen named in the IU complaint are José Luis Sánchez Domínguez of Grupo Sando, who reportedly gave a one-million-euro contribution; Manuel Contreras Caro, chairman of Azvy, who is listed as having given 858,000 euros; and Luis de Rivero, ex-chairman of Sacyr Vallehermoso, who was down as contributing 500,000 euros.

Despite a police investigation's conclusions over possible links to Gürtel, Judge Gómez Bermúdez on Tuesday asked Ruz to recuse himself from continuing his own inquiry regarding the ledgers because there is no such connection. He lists some 20 arguments why Ruz should not touch the case, including reminding his colleague that on two prior occasions he declined to join the two investigations for lack of relevance.

In one instance, Ruz points out similarities in the information concerning some 21 million pesetas that defendant Pablo Crespo - the purported number two man in the Gürtel ring - gave to the PP, which appear both in the accounting records and the ledgers. But Gómez Bermúdez said the dates don't match because Crespo was the secretary general of the PP in Galicia when that payment was recorded and had no ties to businessmen back then.

Ruz has also ordered Bárcenas and Lapuerta to appear before him again on Thursday and submit to handwriting tests.