Gürtel case

The Gürtel case was a major political corruption scandal in Spain that implicated hundreds of officers of the People's Party (PP), Spain's major conservative party, some of whom were subsequently forced to resign or were suspended.

Gürtel is one of the largest corruption scandals in recent European history and was linked to related scandals, such as the Bárcenas case, which received media attention in their own right. The case came to public attention in early 2009, but for the most part, the suspects were not put on trial until October 2016.

The investigative operation was given the name Gürtel in a cryptic reference to one of the principal suspects, Francisco Correa Sánchez (correa, in Spanish, meaning "belt" in English, translates to Gürtel in German). Correa was a businessman who cultivated links with PP officers. The Spanish police began to investigate his activities in 2007, after a whistle-blower, Ana Garrido Ramos, provided information regarding alleged corruption in the Madrid region.

The accusations included bribery, money laundering, and tax evasion. They implicated a circle of business people led by Correa and politicians from the People's Party, although some of the evidence referred to participants by initials and nicknames, such as "Luis el Cabron". The alleged illicit activities related to party funding and the awarding of contracts by local/regional governments in Valencia, the Community of Madrid, and elsewhere. Early estimates of the loss to public finances amounted to at least €120,000,000, while some of the alleged bribes paid in return were not particularly large (for example, items of luxury clothing).

On 24 May 2018, the Audiencia Nacional, Spain's highest criminal court, found dozens of people, as well as the ruling People's Party, guilty of fraud, money laundering, and illegal kickbacks.