In the times of bizumof credit cards in mobile phones or even smart watches, and immediate transfers, ministries and the Senate maintain the delivery of cash to pay some expenses of their representatives. When a minister travels, his team can have money from the box to pay the expenses they have (dinners, taxis, etc.). According to official sources from Moncloa, all ministries have that option. However, the practice in some departments is that the ministers and their equipment run with the expenses that then reimburse them in their bank accounts. In both cases they have to present tickets and documents that prove those costs.
Payment in cash, therefore, is a usual practice in the public administration at a time when the PP is attacking Pedro Sánchez using the images of envelopes with tickets delivered in Ferraz to the former Secretary of Organization of the PSOE, José Luis Ábalos, or the payments in cash to his successor, Santos Cerdán, investigated for corruption. The Senate, for example, uses that formula to pay diets for displacements both within Spain and abroad of parliamentarians. It is 150 euros a day for international trips and 120 euros per day for nationals.
Parliamentary sources explain that the objective is for senators to have cash for expenses that may arise from these institutional trips, which are sometimes carried out in advance. What they maintain is that each payment has a corresponding economic file and is authorized by the Senate Bureau, as well as a statement to the Tax Agency.
Senators, however, do not have to return the money in case the amount is higher than the one they finally need. In the case of ministries it is different: cash advances must be justified and the money that has not been used, it has to be re -entered into the box. Also returns through transfer must be properly justified.
In the Senate they recognize that the regulations on the prevention of money laundering that establish a maximum of 1,000 euros for cash transactions are not applied to be a public administration. In the Ministry of Finance, for example, they explain that “it can be paid in cash for issues of ministry intention or in some cases also for advancement of diets”, but that the figure usually ranges around 200 euros. However, they specify that the general rule is the transfer. “We advance the expenses and pay them by transfer. Most cabinet is so, but for certain protocol expenses there is an cash,” they explain in another ministry.
From the fence of dozens of government sources consulted, it is extracted that the two methods are used interchangeably. Some sources suggest that the usual thing is that before trips they are given an advance of money. Displacements (trains or airplanes) are hired through travel agencies, but the secretariats of the ministries have a box from which money comes out for other expenses, such as taxis or meals. “Small travel expenses are reimbursed in cash”explains a knowledgeable source of the system.
Supporters of using that system argue that they do not have to advance the money from their own bank accounts, which can be an economic breakdown in certain cases until the money is reimbursed. In cases where the ministers or their equipment pay their expenses, it is normal to be returned through transfer. And what the sources consulted point is that the ideal formula would be to have institutional credit cards.
“Paying with cash is not illegal,” said the government spokeswoman, Pilar Alegría, to a question about the PSOE metallic payments to José Luis Ábalos or Santos Cerdán and recalled that it is a usual practice of companies and institutions. “It always has an accounting record,” added joy, who has assured that the UCO of the Civil Guard UCO proves that there has been no irregular financing in the PSOE.