The Provincial Court of Salamanca has confirmed the imputation of the PP of Salamanca as a legal entity, that of its president, Javier Iglesias, and that of its manager, Isabel Sánchez, for the alleged irregular financing of the party during the 2017 primaries. internal election won by the then mayor charro and now president of the Junta de Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco. The magistrate has thus ratified the decision of the court of instruction number 2 of the city, which last November summoned the parties to declare as investigated. In the procedure, the origin of some 62,000 euros is studied —of which 24,140 are “unjustified”—, and qualified by the judge as “rational evidence” of an alleged crime of irregular financing of political formation.
The case goes back to the period between December 31, 2016 and March 17, 2017, when the manager repaid a debt of 61,937.65 euros through different bank income. Said collection, received through pending fees from 4,900 members of the province of Salamanca, allowed these people to recover their right to vote in primaries in which Mañueco defeated the councilor of León and now senator, Manuel Silván, by collecting two thirds of support in Castilla y León. The Salamancan obtained 4,087 votes against the 1,905 of his competitor in a primaries in which only 13% of the autonomous militancy participated. The judge detailed last November that a sum of 41,490 euros was paid through the contribution of “elected officials, trusted personnel and members who collaborated voluntarily” to correct the pending accounts of “delinquent members.” Within that amount are the 24,140 euros that are not justified and that would suppose that illegal donation. Anonymous contributions to electoral formations are prohibited in article 5 of Organic Law 8/2007 on the financing of political parties.
Sources from the PP in Salamanca admitted before the judge investigating the case and confirmed to EL PAÍS that they were forced to pay 500 euros out of their pocket to cover those debts and that they could vote. These informants recall that the president of the PP in the province and also head of the Provincial Council, Francisco Javier Iglesias, gathered several members of the conservative group to tell them that “Alfonso [Fernández Mañueco] he has to be president and we have to support him”, so all of them contributed those 500 euros. The leader himself paid 1,000 euros “in cash” and from his “personal assets”, something that is corroborated by two bank receipts that this newspaper has in his possession, to settle those debts of the militants. The president, who in 2019 agreed with Ciudadanos to govern before dissolving the Cortes in December 2021 and ending up allying with Vox, filed a brief before the judge 10 days before the dissolution of Parliament and called the elections for February 13, in which ended up joining the extreme right.
The dates of the citations before the judge coincided with the electoral period and the PP tried to blur the case so that it would not affect the elections. Isabel Sánchez accepted her right not to testify, since the accused are obliged to tell the truth, while Iglesias alleged pain from the coronavirus vaccine so as not to go to court and save his party the image of a charge entering a court as accused. He also gave up talking. The PP of Salamanca tried to evade responsibilities with a statement in which it stated that the payment of debts to third parties “is expressly permitted by our Civil Code, and its adjustment to the law in the case of the Popular Party of Salamanca was already endorsed by the own Provincial Court of Salamanca”.
The Prosecutor’s Office had shown doubts in this process about how the money was provided in an “altruistic” way to pay the debts of hundreds of affiliates. The complaint reached judicial instances presented by an alleged Andrés Sánchez Santa Mónica and stated that a plot had been formed in Salamanca to make it easier for Mañueco to obtain the maximum possible number of votes in his province. According to the letter, “the alleged donations” were known in the PP as a “revolutionary tax” and were made “in cash and without a document, invoice or written acknowledgment of receipt.” The case was filed, first, in full negotiations between the PP and Ciudadanos to form a government in Castilla y León in 2019, but it was reopened by the Provincial Court in June 2020. The private accusation in this case is embodied by Los Verdes.
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