Former PM Rajoy denies destroying evidence of PP party illegal funding

Former Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy denied on Thursday this week in a national court in Madrid that there had been any political plot to obtain sensitive information from former Partido Popular (PP) treasurer Luis Bárcenas, insisting that only a lawful police operation linked to the Gürtel case had taken place.

Testifying in the Operation Kitchen trial, Rajoy also rejected as "absolutely false" claims that he destroyed evidence relating to the PP's alleged slush fund or received an envelope from Bárcenas containing information on the party's off-the-books accounts.

In 2017 Rajoy became the first prime minister to testify in the linked Gürtel case.

Operation Kitchen investigates the former National Police commissioner, deputy head of the police and party treasurer's driver over an alleged interior ministry order to obtain sensitive information that was damaging to the PP.