Overview
- With its PP majority, the Senate’s Mesa approved a transparency package that bans cash disbursements and orders allowances and salaries to be paid by bank transfer.
- Senators must provide a certificate proving ownership of the bank account that receives their pay, and parliamentary groups must hold a distinct tax ID and a separate bank account for grants.
- The plan sets a three-month deadline for full implementation across the chamber’s payment and accounting systems.
- The rules end long-standing practices under which travel per diems were paid in cash in advance and salaries could be routed to non-personal or group accounts.
- The changes follow UCO revelations involving cash envelopes to José Luis Ábalos and Santos Cerdán; this week the Senate’s ‘caso Koldo’ panel is set to hear from PSOE managers Ana María Fuentes and Mariano Moreno, who has also been called as a Supreme Court witness.