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Spain corruption probe leads to police raid of ex-official's home

Friday, 12 February 2016 1:52 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 12 February 2016 1:57 AM ]

File photo shows Spanish police officers standing guard in capital, Madrid.

The Spanish police have stormed the houses and offices of a former top official and a corporate executive as part of an investigation into high-level corruption.

The police on Thursday searched the locations associated with Beltran Gutierrez, a former official with acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s center-right Popular Party (PP), and Javier Lopez, a board member of construction company OHL.

The party and the firm have been accused of resorting to bribery and money laundering to secure public works contracts worth a reported EUR 250 million (USD 282 million).

During his five years in office, Rajoy has been implicated in various corruption scandals, which culminated in his party coming short of absolute majority in parliamentary elections in December.

Acting Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy ©AFP

The premier has thus been forced to stand down and has been struggling to form a favorable coalition in the face of new parties alleging deep-running corruption within the ruling administration and senior local officials.

His tenure witnessed mass arrests in 2014 of powerful figures, who were alleged to have manipulated the bidding process for lucrative projects.

A year earlier, Rajoy himself was struck with reports that he and party colleagues had received cash from a slush fund.

The Spanish public is, meanwhile, raging at the country’s 20-percent unemployment and is hotly pursuing another corruption case, which has seen Princess Cristina, King Felipe VI's sister, charged with two counts of tax fraud.

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