The Gürtel whistleblower attacks Feijóo and the PP in 'Malas Lenguas': "Their headquarters are paid with black money"

The former Popular Party councilman José Luis Peñas, one of the main whistleblowers in the Gürtel case, harshly criticized the Popular Party and its leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, during an interview on Malas Lenguas. The former leader expressed his “indignation” with the party's current discourse and questioned the credibility of its positions on corruption.

Peñas stated that the PP has historically used “I am not aware” or “I am not conscious” in the face of cases that have affected it, and accused the party of not having taken responsibility for its past. In his intervention, he went so far as to describe the party's attitude as “cowardly” in the face of these scandals.

The former councilman also directed his criticism at Feijóo, reproaching him for the tone of his current statements on corruption in other parties. Furthermore, he stated that the popular leader's stance generates “quite a lot of contempt” in him and questioned the cleanliness of the party's headquarters on Génova street.

Finally, Peñas defended the need for deep reforms to prevent corruption, warning of the risks of power concentration and proposing a greater separation between municipal, regional, and national political structures to limit its scope. In this regard, he denounced that “they are pointing out outrageous corruption while speaking from a headquarters that, by the way, is paid with black money,” in reference to the party's historic national headquarters on Madrid's Génova street.

Peñas also recalled the personal consequences he claims to have suffered after denouncing the Gürtel plot. When asked about the pressures received, he stated that the attempts at retaliation went beyond the political sphere. “They tried to eliminate me physically, economically, and through my family. They threatened my wife, my mother-in-law, and my young daughter, who was barely six years old. It is very hard to live through all that and now see how they want to take credit as if they were an immaculate party,” he maintained. “If there is any party to which corruption becomes flesh, that is the Popular Party, without a doubt,” he concluded.