Anti-Corruption Agency Closes Investigation into Vox for Irregular Funding

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office has shelved the investigation opened against Vox for alleged irregular financing following a complaint filed by the PSOE in December 2024 with the General Prosecutor’s Office. According to sources from the General Prosecutor’s Office, Anti-Corruption has agreed to a provisional filing because the Court of Auditors has already sanctioned this party administratively for irregular financing, and the law prevents transferring sanctioned actions to criminal proceedings. Furthermore, these sources indicate that the alleged donation reported by the PSOE from a Hungarian bank linked to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was a loan that Vox has already repaid.

The complaint filed by the PSOE included two blocks of facts. The socialists claimed that Vox had violated articles 4.2 and 5.1 of the Law on Political Party Financing (LOFPP), from 2007. These provisions require that all donations to a political party be nominative, made by individuals, and registered through deposits in bank accounts exclusively designated for that purpose. According to the complainant, Vox had been engaging for years in soliciting anonymous cash donations through information tables set up in public spaces. Additionally, part of those donations might have been concealed through the accounting of promotional activities conducted at these tables under the guise of selling merchandise.

For these same facts, the complainant filed separate complaints in May 2023 with the Central Electoral Board and the Court of Auditors, which imposed a fine of €233,324.22 on Santiago Abascal’s party, which, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, already prevents any further criminal investigation into this practice.

Secondly, the PSOE alleged that Vox may have violated article 7.2 of the LOFPP, which prohibits political parties from accepting any type of financing from foreign governments, agencies, entities, or public companies, or companies directly or indirectly related to them. However, the Prosecutor’s Office warns that the crime of illegal financing of political parties penalizes only “donations” and not any other form of financing.

The investigation has established that in June 2023, Vox obtained a loan of €6,500,000 from the Hungarian bank MBH Bank, which it expanded by an additional €192,082 in June 2024. The main shareholder of this entity is a Hungarian state fund linked to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a detail first reported by Adolfo Kunjuk News. This loan was fully repaid by Vox in September 2024, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, which considers that there was, therefore, no donation.

Additionally, the public ministry warns that the Court of Auditors, in its recent report dated March 27, 2025, on the auditing of the accounts from the General Courts elections held on July 23, 2023, pointed out that it was not possible to verify whether this financial entity is directly or indirectly involved with foreign governments and bodies, entities, or public companies.