[JURIST] A Spanish High Court [official website, in Spanish] judge on Thursday ordered [press release, in Spanish] 40 people, including three former ruling party treasurers, to stand trial over a bribes-for-contracts scheme. Investigation into the Gurtel scandal began in 2009 after a recording surfaced [interest group report] of Francisco Correa bragging about Luis Barcenas’ acceptance of over 1.3 billion euros in bribes. At the conclusion of a six-year investigation, Judge Pablo Ruz ordered that former treasurers Luis Barcenas, Alvaro Lapuerta and Angel Sanchis, along with others including businessmen and local government officials, answer for allegations against them for their involvement in the scandal. Ruz imposed court bonds in the sum of around 449 million euros collectively for 36 of the 40 individuals charged. The scandal is thought to have extended to six regional Popular Party governments between 1999 and 2009, and individuals involved are thought to have taken bribes and rerouted public money in exchange for public contracts. With general elections coming at the end of this year, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy‘s Popular Party [official websites, in Spanish] is losing ground in the polls to the anti-establishment Podemos party, which has vowed to fight such corruption.

Spain has been embroiled in significant controversy recently. In February Spain’s Constitutional Court ruled [JURIST report] that a November 9 Catalonia independence vote was unconstitutional. Catalans have been increasingly supportive of separating from Spain, as the believe Catalonia, an affluent region, pays more to Spain’s central government than it gets in return and that the Spanish government is mostly at fault for the country’s economic instability. Earlier in February, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights urged [JURIST report] Spanish authorities to reject two suggested legal reformations that they say may disrupt freedom and fundamental human rights. Spain’s Senate is currently considering reform to both the Penal Code and the Basic Law on the Protection of Public Security. Suggested reform under the Penal Code would, according to OHCHR experts, “pave the way for a disproportionate or discretionary enforcement of the law by authorities.” Amnesty International also criticized Spain’s proposed amendments to the Spanish criminal code, alleging that expanded anti-terrorism laws will infringe on individual human rights in the country.