SPANISH INTERIOR MINISTER HIT BY SECRET TAPE SCANDAL IN THE RUN IN TO ELECTIONS

Image copyright Reuters

Image caption Mr Fernandez Diaz (file image) said claims he had committed a crime were slanderous and stupid

Spanish interior minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz is facing a political storm after leaked tapes appeared to show him trying to incriminate political rivals.

The tapes, which allegedly date from 2014, were published on the Publico website (in Spanish) four days before Sunday's general election.

Opposition party leaders have called on him to resign in light of the claims.

But Mr Fernandez Diaz called the tapes "biased, out of context and edited".

"To accuse me of conspiring to commit a crime is an insult and slander and stupid," he said, according to El Pais daily (in Spanish).

Spaniards return to the polls for the second time in six months on Sunday, after December's election failed to produce a government.

The government of Mariano Rajoy, leader of the centre-right Popular Party (PP), remains in place in a caretaker role.

 Credit-Reuters