Anti-corruption lawyers
in Spain are due to question the former treasurer of the governing
Popular Party (PP) over claims of secret payments.
Luis Barcenas will be asked about documents published in El
Pais newspaper last week that allegedly show payments to leading PP
members, including Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
Mr Barcenas and Mr Rajoy both strongly deny any wrongdoing.
Financial markets slumped earlier this week amid worries about the claims.
State prosecutors, who received the documents from El Pais on
Tuesday, will start preliminary investigations on Wednesday to see if
anyone has broken the law.
El Pais says Mr Barcenas wrote the documents that it published last week, describing them as the PP's "hidden accounts".
They contain lists of donations against the names of senior members of the party, including Mr Rajoy.
On Saturday, Mr Rajoy went on TV to deny ever having received secret or improper payments.
Mr Barcenas stepped down as treasurer in 2009 after being implicated in a separate corruption case known as the Gurtel scandal.
In that case, he stands accused of tax fraud and receiving illegal payments, claims he also denies.
Correspondents say the latest allegations have particularly
angered the public because Mr Rajoy's government is demanding huge
sacrifices from the public as the country battles recession and 25%
unemployment.
The central claim is that documents published by El Pais are a list of undeclared cash "donations" linked to senior PP members.
Until 2007, Spanish political parties were allowed to receive anonymous donations.
Spain's chief prosecutor has said there could be enough
evidence to investigate the allegations. but the PP has said it will
take legal action against those responsible for what it says is a smear
campaign.
Spanish opposition leader Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba has called
for Mr Rajoy to resign, but the BBC's Tom Burridge in Spain says that,
as things stand, that looks unlikely.
Mr Rajoy has said he will publish his earnings online.
Small groups of demonstrators took to the streets in Madrid,
Barcelona and Seville on Saturday calling on Mr Rajoy to step down, and
clashes with police took place in the capital.
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