Rajoy, rescuing his Interior leadership: “There was no political or police (illegal) operation”

As expected, Mariano Rajoy has denied the main point of all accusations made by former PP treasurer Luis Bárcenas regarding his knowledge of an undeclared slush fund in the party or a supposed operation orchestrated by the Popular Party, the Government, or the Police to steal data that could criminally affect him. In fact, for the former president, there was no illegal operation.

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In this way, Rajoy came out in defense of all those accused in Operation Kitchen who are sitting on the bench of the Audiencia Nacional, the main one being a former member of his executive, the former Minister of the Interior Jorge Fernández Díaz.

Rajoy could have left them aside or defended them. He chose the second option. There was no illegal operation, none of that was done by the Ministry or the National Police, and much less —according to the version offered in his statement— with the knowledge of Fernández Díaz. His argument is that he, who was Minister of the Interior with José María Aznar, knows from experience that a minister does not get into such details, not even a Secretary of State.

This statement will have to be confronted with other evidence that exists in the case. For example, messages that Martínez registered before a notary sent to Fernández Díaz in which the latter told him that the device to steal information from the former PP treasurer had been carried out “successfully,” managing to dump “all” of it. 

Other evidence that the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the accusations have includes audios and notes in the agendas of former commissioner José Manuel Villarejo giving detailed notes on the operation, the recruitment of Bárcenas’ driver to steal documents, and conversations with Martínez, among others.

Rajoy has denied everything in his statement as a witness. The former president had to travel this morning to the headquarters of the Audiencia Nacional on the outskirts of Madrid, in an industrial estate in San Fernando de Henares. Due to his status as former president, he arrived with an entourage of escorts to avoid entering through the main door.

It was not the first time he had visited this building. In 2017, he was also summoned, as a witness, in the trial for the Gürtel case, after which it was recognized that the PP had an undeclared slush fund, a sentence that caused his government’s downfall after the motion of no confidence promoted by Pedro Sánchez.

That matter has already been judged and condemned. But almost a decade later, the man who was president of the government for seven years has been summoned again to account for what he knew about a “parapolice” operation that would demonstrate the existence of state sewers in his Executive.

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The former president has denied Operation Kitchen. Not only has he said that he was unaware of such an operation as head of the Executive, but he has also explained that he later learned that it was a totally legal police operation in search of Bárcenas’ money and his wife’s abroad.

There was a police operation to seize Bárcenas’ money and find out who his straw men were”

Mariano Rajoy

Former President of the Government and of the PP

This is the same thesis defended by the accused in the trial for Operation Kitchen. “There was no political operation. What there was was a police operation to seize Bárcenas’ money and find out who his straw men were,” he defended.

Rajoy maintained that during that operation, between 2013 and 2015, he had no knowledge of it. But in addition, he defends the two main accused, former Minister of the Interior Jorge Fernández Díaz and former Secretary of State for Security Francisco Martínez. “Neither the minister, nor the Secretary of State, nor the President of the Government were involved in police operations,” he indicated. For further defense, he was emphatic: “I am convinced that it fully complied with legality.”

The former head of government dodged the question of whether his former Minister of the Interior kept him informed about the police operation to follow the Bárcenas family, as he knew nothing about it. Nor did he warn him of the seriousness that the former treasurer might have taken compromising information for the Popular Party with which to blow the whistle. Furthermore, he drew a firewall with Martínez. According to Rajoy, he only dealt with his ministers. If he ever did so with his number twos, it was with those from economic portfolios, due to the austerity crisis that marked his mandate.

The courtroom has a different appearance this Thursday compared to previous sessions. For the first time, former minister Jorge Fernández Díaz is not sitting in the front row of the dock, but has taken a seat next to his lawyer. The same goes for his former number two, Francisco Martínez, who is following the statement next to his defense. What remains the same is the tension between the President of the Court, Teresa Palacios, and the PSOE lawyer, Gloria de Pascual. The former constantly interrupts the lawyer in her questions, asking her to redirect the interrogation. She has protested on numerous occasions. “I’m going to protest everything,” she snapped at her. “Withdraw that impertinence,” she replied.

Given that he was unaware of such an operation and denies it, Rajoy has also denied the entire version offered by Bárcenas about the movements made by the top leaders of the PP to stop the investigation of the undeclared slush fund. The former treasurer assured on Monday that a lawyer sent by the party, Javier Iglesias, offered him 500,000 euros in exchange for denying before the judge of the Audiencia Nacional Pablo Ruz the veracity of the so-called Bárcenas papers, which were published in the press with notes of entries and exits in a parallel, unofficial fund.