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LUIS BARCENAS

‘Party donations were out of control’: ex-officials

Former high officials of Spain's ruling Popular Party (PP) on Tuesday admitted to Spain's High Court they had failed to control party funding but denied any knowledge of an illegal slush fund.

'Party donations were out of control': ex-officials
Javier Gomez de Liano, the lawyer of the People Party's (PP) former treasurer Luis Bárcenas, arrives at the Spanish High Court in Madrid in July. Photo: Dominique Faget/AFP

Francisco Álvarez-Cascos and Javier Arenas, both ex-Secretary Generals of the PP, also said they had not received any under-the-table payments. 

They told the court that ex-PP treasurers Luis Bárcenas and Álvaro Lapuerta would be responsible for any alleged illegal financing of the party that may have taken place.

In July, Bárcenas told Spain's High Court he had operated an illegal slush fund for the PP during his time in office.

The former treasurer said he had handed €25,000 ($33,000) in 500-euro notes to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in March 2010.

This has been strongly denied by the Spanish leader, and the PP has distanced itself from the disgraced official, currently being in held without bail in relation to another corruption case.

But further proof of the existence of the slush fund appeared to come to light on Tuesday when Bárcenas' successor told the court he had received two "payments" from the official.    

Cristóbal Páez, the general manager of the PP from July 2009 to April 2010, told the court he had received two payments from ex-party treasurer Luis Bárcenas in 2008.

Both of these were for the amount of €6,000 ($7950), Spain's ABC newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Páez also confirmed that the payments were featured in documents dubbed 'the Bárcenas papers' by the Spanish press.

These papers, initially published in Spain's El País newspaper, allegedly provide evidence of the illegal PP slush fund.

The documents allegedly show that Cascos received €421,693 in illegal funds from 1990 to 2004 while Arenas received €234,320 between 1990 and 20011, according to figures published by El País on Wednesdayy.

The current PP Secretary General María Dolores de Cospedal will testify in court on Wednesday in a highly-anticipated appearance.

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FAKE

Fake priest wanted to ‘save Spain’: Lawyer

A man who disguised himself as a priest to break into the home of the Spanish government's disgraced former treasurer was suffering from delusions and saw himself as 'Spain's saviour', a Madrid court heard on Thursday.

Fake priest wanted to 'save Spain': Lawyer
Olivares' lawyer said his client believed himself to be a 'modern-day Robin Hood'. Photo: Fátima Flores

Enrique Olivares broke into the house of Luis Bárcenas, the former treasurer of Spain's ruling Popular Party (PP) in October 2013.

Armed with an antique revolver and posing as a prison chaplain, he took the family of the imprisoned former treasurer of Spain's ruling Popular Party hostage for over an hour.

During the siege, he pulled out the weapon and demanded family members hand over "a pen drive to oust the government".       

Those demands came in the midst of a very high profile and long-running corruption case involving Bárcenas.

The former top official claims to have operated a secret slush fund for Spain's ruling PP before the party came into office in 2011 — allegations repeatedly refuted by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

Questions also remain over whether the PP wiped hard drives at their party headquarters in Madrid to hide evidence of the so-called "second set of books". 

Bárcenas himself is appearing in court on Thursday to answer questions about the matter, after a High Court judge recently ruled there was sufficient evidence of the existence of the slush fund.  

In the case of Olivares, prosecutors are now seeking an 18-year-old jail term for the man who took Barcanas' wife and grown-up children hostage.

On Wednesday, the defendant interrupted court proceedings saying voices in "my head won't lave me in peace", a claim which experts dismissing, saying he was merely pretending. 

But the lawyer representing the false priest said the priest believed himself to be "a modern-day Robin Hood" and was indeed mentally disturbed.

While Olivares did not have a "psychotic personality" he did have a "different way of seeing and feeling things from most people", the legal representative added.

"He feels threatened by the current social reality and doesn't see it as just. He thinks that people aren't happy with the situation, but aren't doing anything.

"That's why he set himself up as a saviour," the lawyer explained.

The lawyer claims his client cannot be charged as a result.

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