HispanicBusiness

Spain's attorney general said he will ask the Bank of Spain to corroborate a newspaper report critical of its handling of the country's financial crisis published on Wednesday.

The daily El Pais reported that the central bank's own inspectors have accused it of not pursuing evidence of illegal practices, of tampering with reports and of lacking transparency in its decision-making.

Such shortcomings prevented the Bank of Spain from detecting problems at troubled banks and from acting efficiently against the financial crisis, El Pais said.

Attorney General Eduardo Torres-Dulce said that if prosecutors detected criminal evidence, they would "act accordingly."

The Bank of Spain on Tuesday announced a reform of its bank supervision rules. New measures will include on-site inspections of banks.

The collapse of Spain's property market in 2008 left banks burdened with toxic real estate assets. The eurozone recently agreed to prop up Spain's banking sector with about 40 billion euros (52 billion dollars) in aid.