Former Popular Party treasurer Luis Barcenas, sits in the National Court in San Fernando de Henares, just outside of Madrid, Spain, Monday Feb. 8, 2021.
A court in Spain has begun a high-stakes trial that has brought back the attention on the illegal funding scheme that has been hunting Spain's Popular Party, in a case that casts a long shadow on the country's polarized politics.
(Ballesteros, Pool Photo via AP)MADRID – A high-stakes trial beginning Monday is bringing back a spotlight on the illegal kickbacks scheme that for years has haunted Spain's Popular Party, casting a long shadow on the country's main conservative party despite its pledges of regeneration.
The case is the latest in a legal saga that began when allegations of the party's decades-long shadowy accounting first emerged in 2013.
The Popular Party, or PP, which has been a dominating presence during Spain's past four decades of democracy, has already paid a high political price for corruption scandals by its members or elected officials.