Pablo Iglesias and Podemos, target to knock down

Newly emergent left-wing political party Podemos surprised all of the pundits by obtaining 69 seats in the Spanish general election on a platform of social expansion as well as anti-corruption in politics.

So determined is the party to be seen to act in the best interests of the country, MPs have even offered to give part of their salaries to charity but a revelation on the El Confidencial website insists that official police investigations are taking place with regards to the possible payment of €5 million to the party and €93,000 to leader Pablo Iglesias from Iran.

It must be stressed that no official confirmation of such an investigation has been issued but as a senior official in the Popular Party has demanded an explanation of the allegations, which is reflected in a similar statement from the leader of Ciudadanos, then the matter does need to be taken seriously.

The allegations centres around two particular areas which suggest that the Podemos leader, who had links with the previous leftist government in Venezuela, was able to receive funds via that country which had come from Iran in order to allow him to support Podemos.

 In addition, it is suggested that, as a regular presenter on a TV programme on the Iranian station Hispan TV, Mr Iglesias had received sums of money from a third party, Global Media, which he had not formally declared.

Mr Iglesias said he would be delighted to speak to officials about the matter and that the party accounts are completely transparent.

If these allegations are correct and funding can be traced back to Iran, then the party will be greatly embarrassed as it is strictly forbidden under Spanish law for any political party to be funded by an overseas government, and this could affect its popularity in the event of a new election in 2016.