Defence minister gave royal family secret funds in cash
According to newspaper 'Abc', it occurred when she worked at the Ministry of Home Affairs
MadridThe current Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles, allegedly gave 60 million pesetas a year in cash from the State's secret funds to the royal family while she held the second most important post at the Ministry of Home Affairs, between 1994 and 1996, under Felipe González. According to newspaper Abc, Robles handed over five million pesetas a month in cash to "leave no trace". This information was allegedly revealed by former Socialist minister Antoni Asunción in a conversation with former director of the Superior Center for Defence Information Emilio Alonso Manglano in December 1994.
Before resorting to cash payments, Asunción explains that the Ministry of Home Affairs delivered cheques from the Bank of Spain for five million pesetas a month to the royal family from secret funds. But from 1994 it was decided to change the cheques for cash, something that annoyed the royal family, because they did not like to receive donations in cash. According to the conversation between Asunción and Manglano, the current Minister of Defence argued that, in this way, the money's movement was not registered.
In the conversation, Asunción and Manglano are also concerned about the fact that the judge who was investigating the case of the former director general of the Guardia Civil, Luis Roldán, had in his hands the cheques granted to the royal house, because the Bank of Spain delivered them along with those related to Roldan. Thus, they accuse the Bank of Spain of having violated the law of official secrets for having handed over these cheques from secret funds which were related to the royal family.
As a result of this information, the Socialist party has avoided making any assessment. Senate Spokesperson Eva Granados said: "I am sure that the minister will provide the relevant information," she said at a press conference. On the other hand, from Podemos co-spokesperson Pablo Fernández has considered that all this was an "example of the total opacity and lack of transparency that surrounds the royal family". In this sense, he was against the possibility that the Spanish government give more money to the royal family through secret funds, because he believes that the allocation provided in the State budget is "sufficient".