The Ministry of Finance has categorically denied having been contacted by authorities in Spain regarding a money laundering investigation of one of their country’s former top politicians.The Ministry moved to set the record straight over the weekend in response to an article that ran in an English newspaper in Spain and subsequently in The Royal Gazette that alleged Bermuda had “refused” to assist in the case concerning Luis Barcenas, a prominent politician under scrutiny for hiding millions of euros in Swiss bank accounts with ties to a Bermuda company.The Ministry of Finance said it consulted with all relevant Government or Government-related authorities in Bermuda, including The Central Authority of the Attorney-General’s Chambers, The Department of Public Prosecutions, The Financial Intelligence Agency, Ministry of Justice/Office of the National Anti-Money Laundering Committee, Customs Department, Financial Crime Unit, the Bermuda Monetary Authority, and The Registrar of Companies, and confirmed that it is “categorically untrue in that neither the Government of Bermuda, nor the aforementioned Government-related authorities received contact from Spanish Authorities on this matter.”According to Sur, Mr Barcenas, a former senator and treasurer with Partido Popular, held as much as 22 million euros in Swiss bank accounts held in the name of a Panama-registered foundation called Sinequanon in 2004. The first member of this foundation was a firm named Impala Ltd, which was created here in Bermuda in 2001.Sur reported that a 2005 joint account was opened in the Swiss bank Dresdner and in the names Impala and Sinequanon. Only ten people had access to the account, including four people from Bermuda along with one person in the Bahamas, four Britons and one Canadian.The accounts were drained within the last two years.The paper added that Spanish authorities have been looking to investigate Impala regarding its involvement but “have been refused cooperation from the Bermuda authorities.”“Bermuda prides itself for its global recognition as a fully cooperative jurisdiction in all spheres of international cooperation including in the Regulatory, Anti Money Laundering, and Tax Information Exchange areas,” added the Ministry about the investigation. “There are multiple government entities as well as those in the private sector that daily work very hard to protect and enhance Bermuda’s sterling international reputation in a world where there are those that might stereotype us as an uncooperative jurisdiction that assists international criminals to hide their ill-gotten gains.”The Spanish media has catapulted this case into the spotlight as Mr Barcenas is no stranger to financial scandal. According to Sur, in 2009, he, then treasurer of Partido Popular, was accused of receiving payments for submitting “overinflated” invoices to his political party on behalf of a crooked businessman. Mr Barcenas left his post as a result of the scandal.