Political corruption scandal widens in Spain

Feb 25, 2009, 14:23 GMT

Madrid - A corruption scandal affecting Spain's main opposition conservative People's Party (PP) widened Wednesday as a judge investigating the allegations implicated at least two legislators or senators in the affair.

National Court magistrate Baltasar Garzon asked anti-corruption prosecutors whether the Supreme Court should take over the case, because national-level politicians had become implicated, in addition to local or regional ones.

Garzon did not give the names of the new suspects.

The PP meanwhile lodged a complaint against Garzon at the Supreme Court, accusing the judge of misconduct in investigating a case which his court had no jurisdiction over.

The PP claims that Garzon is trying to damage the chances of the conservatives and to favour Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's socialists in Sunday's regional elections in Galicia and the Basque region.

The PP stepped up its criticism of Garzon after the judge went on a hunting trip with socialist justice minister Mariano Fernandez Bermejo, who resigned over the affair on Monday.

Garzon earlier named 37 people official suspects in his investigation into bribery, influence-peddling, money-laundering and tax evasion in Madrid and several other regions.

Garzon has jailed businessman Francisco Correa, whom he suspects of masterminding a corruption network affecting building permits and lucrative contracts granted by PP municipal councils.

The PP has pledged to investigate the affair, and to purge possible culprits from its ranks.