Since the Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy took office in December 2012 , Spain has witnessed more and bigger political scandals than at any other point since ittransitioned from dictatorship to democracy in the late seventies and early eighties. But according to an expose by El Confidencial, things may be even worse than feared: rampant corruption in Spain extends far beyond the political sphere, to the beating heart of the financial markets.
Extortion Inc.
Just as Spain’s governing party is accused of awarding public work contracts and fine tuning political legislation on the basis of the kickbacks it receives from large Spanish companies and wealthy individuals, so too is Spain’s financial markets regulator, the CNMV – the Spanish equivalent of the Securities and Exchange Commission – suspected of criminal malpractice in the concession and withdrawal of licenses for operating in the Spanish market.
In other words, the organization ostensibly responsible for maintaining confidence in the financial system and combatting the financial crimes of supposedly regulated businesses is itself now accused of perpetrating a litany of financial crimes.
Two weeks ago the Police’s financial crimes unit (UDEF) interrogated Elvira Rodrguez, the president of the CNMV, as part of an ongoing investigation into an alleged corruption ring within the financial markets supervisor. According to sources close to the investigation, Rodrguez, a former senior member of the governing Popular Party, has been aware for some time of the Police’s criminal charges against the CNMV. The UDEF has also interrogated former and current employees of the CNMV.
This post was published at Wolf Street on August 18, 2015.
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