Spain’s former Finance Minister Cristóbal Montoro stands accused of receiving €673,000 in kickbacks from gas industry lobbyists during his tenure under conservative prime ministers José María Aznar and Mariano Rajoy, according to a police report obtained by Spanish media.
The Guardia Civil’s elite investigative unit (UCO) alleges payments from energy companies were channelled through Montoro’s private law firm, Equipo Económico, before being transferred directly to his personal accounts and those of his associates. Montoro is among 29 individuals implicated in a protracted probe into alleged influence-peddling to secure legislative reforms favourable to the gas sector.
Montoro publicly rejected the accusations, telling RTVE that there is “no evidence” against him and insisting he severed ties with Equipo Económico in 2008, despite official records listing him as the firm’s founder and president.
The police report contends the firm functioned as “a vehicle to access the finance ministry,” enabling gas companies to secure tax reductions and regulatory advantages after conventional lobbying efforts failed. Judge Rubén Rus noted these entities “obtained the desired legislative reforms within a short period of time and for no apparent reason.”
Current Finance Minister María Jesús Montero dismissed Montoro as “just one of Aznar’s many ministers who wound up in court,” underscoring the scandal’s symbolic weight. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, whose own administration faces corruption investigations involving close allies, linked the case to systemic graft under Rajoy’s government, which collapsed following a 2018 no-confidence vote.
“This kind of widespread corruption is what brought down the previous government,” Sánchez asserted.
Opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo of the People’s Party (PP) stated corruption “must be investigated regardless of ideology,” though senior PP figure Elías Bendodo emphasised Montoro left office in 2018.
The allegations compound the PP’s longstanding credibility crisis, with over 30 active corruption investigations involving former ministers and officials. Montoro resigned from the PP following the revelations but maintains his innocence, declaring “there is no proof of any of the accusations.”
