Continuity and Change: Analysing Political Corruption in Modern Spain

Abstract

In April and early May 1994, Spain’s Socialist government was rocked by a series of major scandals related to the issue of political corruption. The most spectacular concerned the imprisonment of the former governor of the Bank of Spain, Mariano Rubio, on suspicion of fraud, and the flight from justice of the former head of the Civil Guard, Luis Roldán, accused of a string of crimes including perversion of the course of justice, defrauding the public treasury, and embezzlement of public funds. Both Rubio and Roldán had been appointed by the Socialist government, first elected in 1982, and their dramatic fall from grace brought in its train a number of high-level casualties. Carlos Solchaga, minister of the economy from 1985 to 1993 and a central figure in the Socialist administration, and José Luis Corcuera, former minister of justice, both resigned over their failure to detect the alleged criminal activities. Roldán’s escape into exile also prompted the resignation of Antonio Asunción, minister of the interior for just five months. Shortly beforehand, the minister of agriculture, Vicente Albero, had also resigned, the result of being implicated in a scam set up by Manuel de la Concha, Rubio’s financial adviser, in the 1980s. To add to the government’s woes, the former judge, Baltasar Garzón, whose inclusion as an independent candidate on the PSOE slate at the June 1993 general elections had been seen at the time as a political masterstroke, resigned as minister in charge of the fight against drugs in protest at the government’s failure to act with sufficient determination against corruption.¹

An earlier version of this chapter was published as an Occasional Paper by the Centre for Mediterranean Studies, University of Bristol (Dec. 1994). Much of the material contained here was first used in papers given at the conference ‘La corruption dans les systèmes pluralistes’ (Poitiers, Nov. 1993) and at the Political Studies Association Conference, University College of Wales at Swansea (Mar. 1994).