[7] Other leading party figures allegedly involved in the scandal include former ministers Rodrigo Rato,[3] (also a former director general of the IMF, and now serving time for a separate corruption case), Ángel Acebes, Federico Trillo,[8][9] and former secretaries-general, who also served as ministers, Francisco Álvarez-Cascos, who allegedly received 421,693 euros between 1990 and 2004,[10] Javier Arenas, who allegedly received 234,320 euros,[10] and María Dolores de Cospedal, also Minister of Defence,[5] the most senior party member summoned to date to appear before the investigating judge[7] and the President of the Senate, Pío García-Escudero[11] On 1 August 2013, after “weeks of holding out against demands that he give some sort of explanation for the corruption and illegal funding scandal that has engulfed” his party,[12] Rajoy was finally forced to address Spain's parliament by the threat of a motion of censure.
[14] On 22 November 2013, the investigating judge released a writ where he claimed that circumstantial evidence existed that the PP had maintained a parallel accounting system to the official one it presented to the Audit Court.
[5][18][19] Current senate president Pío García Escudero, later stated that one of the payments that figure in Bárcenas’ handwriting corresponded to a cash loan he had been given to repair damage to his home after a terrorist attack,[3] and on 13 August 2013, Cristóbal Páez, a former PP finance manager, testified that he had received 12,000 euros in two payments in 2007 and 2008, as reflected in Bárcenas' handwritten notes.
[10] At the end of June 2013, the investigating judge, Pablo Ruz, faced with the risk of a defendant with access to considerable offshore funds fleeing the country, ordered that Bárcenas be remanded in prison without bail,[20] on charges of tax fraud and money-laundering.
He likewise admitted that both he and the previous party treasurer, Álvaro Lapuerta, had received cash donations from real estate agents and other businessmen in "bags, suitcases and briefcases" that were used as a slush fund.