FOR some time now, barely a week has gone by without a news item on corruption in Spain. Judges preside over interminable trials, announce hundreds of accusations, call legions of witnesses and, occasionally, pass sentence, but among the population there is a growing perception that, in the end, everyone is getting off lightly, nobody is being made to pay for his or her crimes and, even in cases where justice is done, this comes so late that it loses all its power as an example to others. This is the best case scenario. In the worst case, the slowness of the process allows crimes to be prescribed, or the circumstances of the accused change in such a way that they cannot be held accountable.

Currently, 1,661 corruption investigations are underway in 798 courts, of which 302 are "macro-trials." The General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) has asked 64 judges, 18 judicial secretaries and 150 supporting civil servants to move these cases forward. To date, the Justice Ministry's response is unknown, given that it would appear to be far more concerned about the abortion law reform.

1. Gürtel Case. Began five years ago. The first examining magistrate, Baltasar Garzón, was removed from the judiciary. There are 100-plus defendants in numerous separate aspects of the case. In one, that of the famous suits, Francisco Camps, former president of the Valencia Autonomous Community, was acquitted by a jury. The leader of the network, Francisco Correa, spent three years in custody and was released in June 2012 after paying a 200,000-euro bond. In Valencia, six defendants are currently members of the regional parliament. Milagrosa Martínez, for whom the prosecution requested 10 years in prison, is mayor of Novelda. One of the ramifications of the Gürtel case was Fundescam, a Madrid Partido Popular (PP) foundation which financed the 2003 election campaign that took Esperanza Aguirre to the presidency of the Madrid Community. This case was filed because the statutory limitation for crimes of illegal funding is four years.

The Gürtel case is linked to the Bárcenas case, in which Judge Ruz just cited as defendants eight business executives, for alleged illegal donations to the PP. Two judges disputed the latter case instead of deciding to unite efforts. And the trial goes on and on, like that in Dickens' Bleak House.

2. Palermo Case. A scandal involving the Democratic Union Party of Catalonia, accused of illegal funding by diverting public subsidies for vocational training to party coffers. It took 14 years from the start of the trial to sentencing. The accused, an Andorran businessman and two former officials of the Democratic Union Party, reached a deal with the prosecutor to plead guilty in exchange for returning the diverted monies and serving suspended sentences of less than two years, because they had no previous criminal record. In January, the Barcelona Court handed down the agreed sentences, but decided to imprison them, arguing that it was necessary to send an exemplary message to society. But the supposed "example" has been deferred. On April 29, the court suspended the sentence until central government reaches a decision on clemency for the three convicts, requested by their attorneys.

3. Palma Arena Case. The case, which began as a result of a claim of overspending on a Palma de Mallorca velodrome, has already lasted five years. It is a tangled legal web involving over 25 separate aspects. Jaume Matas, former president of the Balearic Islands and one of Aznar's former ministers, was sentenced to six years in prison in March 2012 on just the first charge: paying a journalist to write speeches for him . On 2 April, elconfidencial.es published an article with the headline: "Convicted Jaume Matas dines by moonlight without seeing a prison." One of the separate parts of this macro-case is the Nóos case, in which the daughter of Juan Carlos I (for now) and her husband, Iñaki Urdangarín, face charges.

4. Fabra Case. In 2004, more than nine years ago, the Nules Number 1 Court began investigating a complaint against the all-powerful president of Castellón Council, Carlos Fabra. The case covered alleged crimes ranging from influence peddling, bribery and tax offenses. Fabra was so confident of his immunity that he claimed his undeclared income had been won in the lottery. Mariano Rajoy, leader of the governing Popular Party, called him a "model citizen." Eight judges paraded through the Nules court until the ninth decided to open the trial next fall. "About time," Fabra exclaimed cynically. A man who, despite the legal scandals in which he is involved, managed to retain his majority on Castellón Council in 2011. "The polls have absolved me," he proclaimed, even though he then left office. Nevertheless, until this past March, he remained chair of the Aerocas public company, which manages a costly airport without aircraft, constructed during his term in office..

5. Sáenz Case. In March 2011, 17 years after the criminal investigation began, the Supreme Court sentenced the CEO of Banco Santander, Alfredo Sáenz, to three months in prison for falsely accusing four business executives in order to recover a debt of millions of euros dating back to his presidency of Banesto Bank. The four wrongly accused executives spent some time in prison. The Supreme Court ruling implied a loss of "honor" for Sáenz, and the impossibility any further employment in the banking sector. However, Sáenz was still in post two years after the court's decision, until he "voluntarily" left April 29, in order to avoid the pitter pill of being dismissed by the Bank of Spain. In November 2011, the Zapatero government attempted to save the banker with a pardon, while the Rajoy government passed a regulatory reform which gave Sáenz the possibility of continuing in his post if the Bank of Spain approved it.