Spanish court rules on conservative party’s slush fund use

MADRID (AP) — A top Spanish court has given a 2-year prison term to the former treasurer of Spain’s powerful conservative party for using a slush fund to pay for the renovation of the party’s headquarters in Madrid. In Thursday’s ruling, Spain’s National Court said it couldn’t establish if the leaders of the Popular Party were directly aware of the actions of Luis Bárcenas, the party’s powerful accountant. But it found the party guilty of failing to disclose the shadowy payment of more than 1 million euros in cash for the facelift of the party’s offices more than a decade ago. The Popular Party has been haunted by illegal kickbacks and parallel party accounts.