MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's tax office will investigate the country's large companies over possible misuse of corporate credit cards, sources at the agency and finance ministry said on Friday, after accusations of mass abuse at a former savings bank.
Dozens of executives and board members of former Spanish savings bank Caja Madrid are being investigated over the alleged use of company credit cards for personal expenses.
"We're opening an investigation into Ibex companies to see if, what appears to have been happening in Bankia and Caja Madrid, is widespread," an official at the tax office said.
Speaking after a weekly cabinet meeting, Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said such behavior, if confirmed, "is totally prohibited by Spanish law" and that he trusted it was not pervasive in Spanish business communities.
"I'm convinced that this a unique case," he said.
(Reporting by Paul Day; Editing by Tracy Rucinski and Mark Potter)