Spain is not corrupt; it has some corrupt people [in cases] which are coming to light," Rajoy said.
Mato resigned after an investigative judge recommended that she participate in a trial which will see alleged members of the so-called Gürtel kickbacks-for-contracts case face corruption charges.
Mato’s former husband, Jesús Sepúlveda, is one of 43 people Judge Pablo Ruz wants to put in the dock. Sepúlveda, who was the PP mayor of upscale Madrid dormitory town Pozuelo de Alarcón, is accused of accepting gifts from Gürtel network businessmen, with the former minister and the rest of the family also benefitting from free travel and other expenses being paid.
According to revelations published in Spain's El País and El Mundo newspapers in 2013, Rajoy is among a number of high-ranking PP politicians who received illicit cash payments in the 1990s and 2000s as part of a corrupt system of donations from companies which were not registered — a claim the Spanish prime minister has always denied.
A former PP treasurer, Luis Bárcenas, is in prison while a judicial investigation continues into his alleged money laundering activities.
In parliament on Thursday, Rajoy outlined new measures aimed at making it harder for officials to be corrupted, including the creation of a specific crime to cover "illegal party financing".
The prime minister said that the party members should get the opportunity to elect the leadership group every four years, and that those convicted of offenses related to corruption must be expelled from office.
Rajoy said he could "understand people’s irritation and mistrust" toward politicians but that these feelings did not "justify a generalization of suspicion".
He said that the reforms being put before parliament would go a long way to preventing future scandals. "It will be much harder to be corrupt when these laws that I bring to parliament are passed."
"I want those who are corrupt to pay for it," the prime minister stated.
Rajoy has apologized twice for corruption revelations affecting PP officials since he took office nearly three years ago.
A new party, Podemos, has begun to top opinion polls in part thanks to its claims that it will stop corruption and bring transparency to Spanish politics.
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