The Strength Of Luis Bárcenas

The Spanish media loves nothing more than a politician or some other member of the prominenti going into or coming out of prison. Because both of these happen so frequently, there might by now be getting-banged-up and not-getting-banged-up fatigue and forgetfulness. Is Jaume Matas still in prison or isn't he? In, out, in or maybe not, we've lost all trace of his whereabouts. But there is no fatigue when the newly liberated is ex-Partido Popular treasurer Luis Bárcenas. What a couple of days he had last week. It is reassuring to have learned that the Spanish prison system does not deny inmates the luxury of a well-tailored suit, a silk tie and a neat white handkerchief tucked into a breast pocket, but then Luis had his audience to impress: the Balearic parliamentary commission considering alleged irregularities and abuses of privileged information regarding the building of Son Espases hospital. There was some formidable video kit on hand to enable Luis to tell nervous commissioners (those from the PP) that the local PP HQ had been built with donations from businesspeople and that he had handed over some eight grand to Matas to help the former Balearics president set himself up in Madrid after losing the election in 2007; some eight grand which had come from the so-called B accounts.

Perhaps more than anything, it is the mystery which surrounds these B accounts that intrigues everyone the most. We are nowhere nearer knowing the truth about what PP leaders insist was some form of elaborate hoax by Bárcenas, but the fact that they imply payments to the likes of Mariano Rajoy is the huge sword hovering over PP heads, ready at any moment to deliver a killing blow, if, that is, the accounts were to be discovered to have been authentic.

Following his star role appearance by video link, Luis found that he was to be a free man, 200 grand having been stumped up for his release on bail. Hence, the media massed and Luis emerged, sporting some high-quality knitwear. "Luis has been really strong," he said with a touch of irony; Rajoy had once sent him a text message telling him to remain strong. The PP has nothing to fear, he also said, but added, perhaps ominously, "at the moment". While he believed that the PP was the right party to continue governing Spain, there are still several months before the election; plenty of time maybe for fear to arise. At the same time as he was preparing to leave the Soto del Real prison, Luis would have been hearing that the state attorney was requesting that he should go back to prison - for 60 years (and eight months); if he is found guilty of charges in respect of the long-dragged-out "caso Gürtel", the biggest corruption scandal of the lot.

Knowing this might be the case, what does Luis have to lose? Freed from prison, we can reach for metaphors of the small arms and artillery variety: Luis, the loose cannon, firing from the hip, going down with all guns blazing. Within no time, i.e. the day after his release, Luis was in fact making it abundantly clear that the PP did have something to fear. Mariano knew about the B accounts all along, he said. Rajoy, on balance, would probably prefer that he was still locked up.