Spain’s former prime minister José María Aznar has been ordered to pay almost €270,000 (£214,000) in fines and back taxes after allegedly billing personal income to his family business.
Aznar, a key figure in the conservative People’s party which he helped to found and led for 13 years, was prime minister from 1996 to 2004.
He was fined €70,403 and required to pay a further €199,052 in back taxes after inspectors concluded that in his returns for 2011-12 he had wrongly claimed income against Famaztella, the family business he runs with his wife, Ana Botella, the former mayor of Madrid.
The tax rate for business is 25%, whereas if it had been declared as personal income it would be closer to 50%.
The tax minister, Cristóbal Montoro, declined to comment on the affair. However, a source in the tax inspectorate told the Guardian that details of a leak initially reported by the online news site OKdiario were correct.
Aznar has not commented publicly about the case.
Aznar has been openly critical of his successor, Mariano Rajoy, and other ministers including Montoro, and their mutual antipathy is public knowledge. Aznar had a private meeting with Montoro last autumn, apparently to discuss the tax demand, although the minister said they only discussed politics.
The Aznar story is a further blow to the scandal-ridden PP caretaker government, and emerged on the same day as the mayor of Granada, also of the PP, was arrested on corruption charges.
Although public anger over corruption contributed to the PP’s poor showing in last December’s general election, when the party lost 64 seats, polls indicate that the fresh scandals have had little impact on its core support.
