Aznar charged with
receiving payments from U.S. company
MADRID, June 28 .— The Spanish government, the
governing PSOE Party, the United Left (IU) and
Spanish nationalists have called on José María Aznar,
the conservative former prime minister, to explain
the payments he has been receiving since 2004 from
the Murdoch media group on behalf of a company he
formed while still a member of the Council of State.
"Aznar may have incurred in a serious conflict of
interest" by receiving those payments while a member
of the Council of State, stated Alfonso Perales,
secretary of institutional relations for the
governing Spanish Socialist Workers Party.
According to the party official, Aznar "is
obligated to give all necessary information" to the
Spanish Treasury Department.
From September 2004, Murdoch’s company, the News
Corporation, paid 10,000 euros monthly to Famaztella,
owned by Aznar, according to a document made public
on June 28 in Washington, when it was presented to
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Aznar handed in his resignation to the Council of
State on June 26, given that his post there was
incompatible with his new responsibilities on the
board of the News Corporation.
