Spain police make detentions amid new corruption scandal
Spain police detained about ten people including a former high-profile member of the ruling Popular Party (PP) on Tuesday in the wake of a new corruption scandal.
Officials said the people were detained over involvement in corruption cases in the eastern region of Valencia.
Sources at the Guardia Civil police force said the arrests came as part of “a probe into an alleged corruption network involving different public administrations in Valencia,” adding that the investigation is examining suspected cases of “getting commissions in exchange for public work (contracts).”
They said among the detainees were Alfonso Rus, a former PP president of the region. The arrest of the senior official is the latest in a series of scandals hitting Spain’s ruling party amid surging public anger and disappointments over the government’s inability to eradicate corruption.
The scandals have also embroiled PP’s long-established rival Socialists, further boosting public support for upstart groupings like Podemos and Ciudadanos.
On January 22, Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said one of her main associates and members of the PP had resigned over allegations of graft during his time as the head of a state-run water company.
Both the PP and the Socialists lost considerable votes in the general elections of December 2015 as Spaniards grow ever-more exasperated with the parties and their long list of people involved in corruption.
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