Spain´s main opposition conservative People´s Party (PP) was Wednesday coming under increasing pressure over one of the country´s biggest ever corruption scandals.

Representatives of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero´s Socialist Party lambasted PP leader Mariano Rajoy over his “silence” about the so-called Guertel affair which new evidence has made appear even more extensive than had been believed.

PP second-in-command Dolores de Cospedal denied allegations that the corruption network headed by businessman Francisco Correa had illegally financed the PP.

A judge investigating the case had named it Guertel after the German word for “correa” (belt).

For the past decade, Correa and businessmen linked to him are believed to have bribed PP officials and PP members governing regions or cities to give them lucrative contracts.

More than 60 people are being investigated by three courts. PP treasurer Luis Barcenas as well as several mayors, a regional senior official and a European legislator have resigned over the case.

Judicial documents which were made public on Monday increasingly implicated Barcenas, who allegedly received 1.3 million euros (1.8 million dollars) in kickbacks. The PP was criticized for paying the defence lawyers of its former treasurer who has not been expelled from the party.

Francisco Correa himself is suspected of taking as much as 27 million euros in kickbacks.

The corruption evidence extends to four of Spain´s 17 semi-autonomous regions.

In the eastern region of Valencia, five companies were suspected of illegally financing the PP, while the Madrid regional government allegedly sealed hundreds of contracts with companies belonging to the Guertel network.

The PP has also been hit by a smaller corruption scandal in the Balearic Islands, where former regional prime minister Jaume Matas is being investigated over allegations that he illegally acquired a fortune worth millions of dollars.

Matas – a former Spanish environment minister – on Wednesday paid a bail of 3 million euros to avoid being jailed by a judge as a preventative measure. The bail was one of the highest ever in Spain.

The corruption scandals were seen as undermining the PP´s chances in upcoming regional and local elections despite Zapatero coming under constant criticism over his handling of Spain´s economic crisis.

The scandals not only tarnished the PP, but eroded citizens confidence in the entire political class, the daily El Pais said in an editorial.

Copyright DPA

via Widening corruption scandal undermines Spanish opposition : Europe World.