Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

POLITICS

Partido Popular: Spanish conservative party acquitted of destroying evidence

A court in Spain on Wednesday acquitted the country's main opposition conservative Popular party (PP) of destroying computer hard drives that allegedly had incriminating information on a corruption case.

Published: 5 September 2019 13:04 CEST

Partido Popular: Spanish conservative party acquitted of destroying evidence

Archive photo of PP headquarters in Madrid. Photo: AFP

The PP went on trial in June accused of “damaging computers”, along with three former party members who were charged with the same offence, as well as concealing evidence. It was the first time that a political party went on trial in the country.

The party was accused of having in 2013 taken away the hard drives belonging to its longtime former treasurer Luis Barcenas at its Madrid headquarters before investigators had access to them and Jose Manuel Moreno, one of the defendants who was an IT specialist at the PP, allegedly wiped them clean.

The hard drives may have had information about an alleged illegal funding racket within the PP which was in power at the time but a Madrid court on Wednesday acquitted the three former PP members and the party due to a lack of evidence.

The court said it was not clear “if the destroyed hard drives stored any data or archives when Jose Manuel Moreno wiped them clean” and there was no proof that the hard drives were cleaned to hide evidence.

Defence lawyers had argued during the trial that the hard drives were cleaned to comply with Spain's data protection laws.

At the time that the hard drives were cleaned, Barcenas was at the heart of a judicial probe over alleged parallel accounting that took place at the PP for years.

In May 2018, a court found the PP guilty of having benefited from funds obtained illegally and fined it more than 245,000 euros ($268,000). Barcenas was sentenced to 33 years in jail.

This court decision precipitated a parliamentary vote of no-confidence against then PP prime minister Mariano Rajoy in June 2018 in which he was overthrown by socialist leader Pedro Sanchez.

READ MORE: Luis Barcenas sent directly to jail after graft sentence

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Spain's plan to limit temporary accommodation rejected

If passed, the new law would have meant that anyone who wanted to temporarily rent a property would have to explain why and provide a valid reason.

For example, students or researchers would have to show the research contract or course booking to show it would only last a few months.

It would have also meant that if more than six months passed or more than two consecutive contracts issued, it will have automatically become a long-term habitual residence instead.

On Tuesday September 17th, the proposal was ultimately rejected in the Spanish Congress, voted against by Spain’s three main right-wing parties – Catalan nationalists Junts, Spain’s main opposition party the PP and far-right Vox.

The aim in part was to try and rectify the controversial Housing Law, which came into effect in 2023.

In most people’s eyes, the legislation has failed as landlords have found several loopholes to get around the restrictions, prices have continued to increase and the stock of rental properties is even more diminished.

READ ALSO: Has Spain’s Housing Law completely failed to control rents?

As a result of the fear of heightened regulation for landlords, many have left the traditional market and turned to tourist rentals or temporary accommodation instead, which are far more lucrative.

This has had the opposite effect, increasing rental prices instead of stabilising or decreasing them.

READ MORE: Why landlords in Spain leave their flats empty rather than rent long-term

Seasonal contracts and room rentals allow landlords to raise prices every six or nine months and they not subject to the price limitations of the housing law.

The idea of this new law was to try and set the maximum duration of a temporary rental contracts at six months in order to avoid this, but it could have potentially also caused problems for many who need this type accommodation such as students, digital nomads, those living here on a short term basis etc.

During the debate, Sumar’s spokesperson, Íñigo Errejón, defended the law saying that it is a “solvent”, “fair” and “precise” proposal, which will help “correct an abuse” and “close the gap through which “Landlords can use to avoid the LAU (Urban Leasing Law) and rent regulation”.

Far-left party Podemos blamed the ruling PSOE for having left this “hole” in the housing law, but also agreed that the restrictions on temporary accommodation were needed to try and rectify this.

READ ALSO: Has Spain’s Housing Law completely failed to control rents?

Junts (Catalonia’s main pro-independence party) and the PNV, the Basque nationalist party, were firmly against it. They agreed that the problem must be solved and that “accessible decent housing was needed”, but raised the situation of students, interns, residents or workers who need housing for flexible periods.

Junts party member Marta Madrenas warned of the harmful effects that this limitation on temporary rentals can have for university cities such as Girona.

Vox and the PP meanwhile argued that they don’t want to help cover up the mistakes made by the left with regards to the Housing Law.

Vox deputy Ignacio Hoces stated that the increase in seasonal rentals has occurred due to the “failure” of the Housing Law, since this has caused rental prices to “skyrocketed” by 13 percent and the supply to be reduced by 15 percent.

Temporary accommodation, referred to as alquiler temporal or alquiler de temporada in Spanish, is considered to be anything that’s longer than a month but shorter than a year, middle ground between short-term and long-term rentals. It is also referred to as monthly accommodation or seasonal accommodation.

SHOW COMMENTS

Url copied to clipboard!