A chorizo is a spicy Spanish sausage, best accompanied by a glass of Rioja, though often sliced and served in a doughy bocadillo, or sandwich. Chorizo is also slang for a swindler or cheat. At protests against Mariano Rajoy’s government demonstrators have taken to waving loaves aloft and shouting: “There isn’t enough bread for so many chorizos!” The Economist reported.
Now the allegations have touched Mr Rajoy directly. “Never, ever have I received or handed out black money,” he insisted on January 21st. But revelations from Spain’s two main newspapers, El País and El Mundo, claim otherwise. They allege that slush money flowed liberally through the headquarters of Mr Rajoy’s Popular Party (PP) for at least two decades. Some of it supposedly went straight into the pockets of the party’s leaders. “Envelopes with cash were handed out as salary top-ups to certain top party officials,” said Jorge Trías Sagnier, a former PP deputy and the only whistleblower so far to go on the record.
The allegations, although denied by almost everyone who has been implicated, have turned into a full-blown scandal. The most serious evidence, contained in secret ledgers purportedly kept by the party’s chief accountant, show Mr Rajoy receiving €25,000 ($34,000) a year for a decade. On February 3rd, standing by Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, at a press conference in Berlin, a nervous Mr Rajoy protested that “except for a few bits” the ledger entries were false.
The pivotal character in the scandal is Luis Bárcenas, a party administrator for two decades, whom the party made a senator in 2004 and Mr Rajoy himself promoted to treasurer in 2008. Courts began investigating Mr Bárcenas four years ago amid allegations that he was among the beneficiaries of a backhander scheme run by local party members in Madrid and Valencia. Mr Rajoy stood by his man and the PP paid for his defence. But Mr Bárcenas eventually stood down, as both treasurer and senator. Rumours spread that he had taken away incriminating documents.
The bombshell came last month when court investigators discovered that Mr Bárcenas had a €22m Swiss bank account. He also admitted to using a tax amnesty last year to declare €10m of hidden money.
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