Former Spanish minister denies corruption charges

Jan 26, 2012, 14:48 GMT

Madrid - A former Spanish minister who now acts as the current deputy leader of the opposition Socialist Party on Thursday denied accusations of corruption leveled against him by a businessman.

Jose Blanco was questioned by the Supreme Court in connection with a judicial inquiry into a corruption scandal in his north-western home region of Galicia.

A businessman detained earlier accused Blanco of having accepted a bribe of 200,000 euros (260,000 dollars) in exchange for helping his pharmaceutical company obtain state subsidies.

Blanco acted as infrastructure minister and as a spokesman for Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in the previous government, which lost the November 20 parliamentary elections.

Blanco is still the Socialist Party's second-in-charge after Zapatero. The party will elect a new leadership in February.

The interrogation of Blanco followed the decision by a Valencia court to acquit two politicians belonging to the conservative People's Party (PP) of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in a separate corruption case.

Francisco Camps, former prime minister of the eastern region of Valencia, and former regional PP leader Ricardo Costa, were charged with accepting men's suits as bribes from entrepreneurs seeking lucrative contracts.

There was no conclusive evidence that the charges were true, the jury said late Wednesday.