Spanish PM rebuffs resignation calls after party finance scandal

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Monday rebuffed calls for resignation over a financing scandal that hit his People's Party. "I will defend political stability and I will fulfill the mandate given to me by Spanish voters," Rajoy said in a press conference. Rajoy vowed to continue in his post to complete his economic reform plans and help achieve stability in his country, which is hardly-hit by the economic crisis. The 58-year-old premier has so far limited the impact of the scandal, which involves alleged illegal donations by construction magnates that were supposedly distributed as cash payments to party leaders in return for juicy contracts. He has denied any wrongdoing and refused to comment in past weeks on the growing controversy centered on disgraced ex-treasurer Luis Barcenas. Since its uncover last January, Rajoy has been facing calls to resign or explain his ties to a slush fund scandal roiling the ruling Popular Party, after its jailed former treasurer appeared in court over the affair. The tentacles of the scandal are nevertheless moving closer to the prime minister after the conservative El Mundo newspaper on Sunday published friendly text messages Mr Rajoy purportedly sent to Barcenas from May 2011 to March 2013, some two months after the scandal erupted. Over his more than 20 years handling PP finances, Barcenas accumulated as much as 48 million euros in Swiss bank accounts that prosecutors say he has failed to adequately explain.