Seven Spanish parliamentarians, including ERC, JxCAT, the CUP, the BNG, Més País, Compromís, and Bildu, have agreed to conduct an investigation into new espionage allegations related to corrupt accounting and financial practices used by the Popular Party (PP), as evidenced by previous corruption trials.

The parties urge Congress to investigate Operation Kitchen, where the PP used state institutions to prevent former treasurer Luís Bárcenas from disclosing information about the party’s unlawful parallel accounts. Gabriel Rufián, an ERC spokesman in the Congress of Deputies, stated that “the use of state mechanisms not only outside, but within the PP itself would [if demonstrated] even make it possible to outlaw the party.”

The judge on Monday revoked the private nature of Spain’s National Audience court’s probe into Operation Kitchen. The recently made public court report confirms that under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s administration, Interior Minister Jorge Fernández Díaz, his deputy Francisco Martínez, and PP General Secretary María Dolores de Cospedal all advanced a scheme to spy on former Treasury Bárcenas and attempt to obtain compromising information he possessed about the PP leadership.A parliamentary panel on PP corruption “is self-explanatory” in its reasoning, according to Rufián, and the legislative majority will “have a hard time” rejecting it. The ERC spokesman goes on to say that the goal is to speak with the PSOE and Unidas Podemos, the ruling parties, in order to get their support for the petition, which is set to be registered shortly.

“If [members of the PP] did this to each other, what wouldn’t they have done to others?” says Rufián, adding that “it would be positive to know exactly how far the PP goes when it doesn’t like something or someone.”

Rufián feels that Pablo Casado, the current head of the PP, should explain the incident since, despite the PP’s updated governing bodies, he is still the party’s president and was involved when the alleged actions occurred. The ERC lawmaker asserted, however, that “he probably won’t explain, or if he does, he’ll blame others.”