Retired commissioner José Manuel Villarejo spoke with the former Secretary of State for Security Francisco Martínez about alleged payments of “10,000 euros every month” that the former PP treasurer Luis Bárcenas would have made to the former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
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This is recorded in a conversation between the two, which was heard this Monday in the trial of the Kitchen operation, the alleged espionage orchestrated in 2013 by the Ministry of the Interior of Mariano Rajoy’s Government to steal information from Bárcenas and supposedly obstruct, in that way, the investigation into the existence of an opaque accounting within the PP.
In the conversation, reproduced before the National Court that is judging the case, Villarejo tells Martínez, both accused in this trial, that Francisco Correa, leader of the Gürtel network, wanted to negotiate with the Prosecutor’s Office because he had “a lot of information about ‘El Barbas’,” the nickname with which the network knew Rajoy, according to investigators.
In this context, and always according to Villarejo, the former PP treasurer would have told Correa that “he was giving 10,000 euros every month” to Rajoy.
Prepaid mobiles to talk with Bárcenas’ driver
In the conversation with Martínez, Villarejo said that he was the one who paid Sergio Ríos, Bárcenas’ driver who was recruited as a informant and whom, according to investigators, the commissioner identifies as ‘The Cook’.
Likewise, Villarejo pointed out that he communicated with Ríos through prepaid cards and that he had told him about “literal notes” and “receipts signed” by high-ranking PP officials. In addition, Villarejo defended the idea of bringing the ‘Cook’ into the Police to “have him caught” and not leave “that weak part” loose.
The retired commissioner also referred to Eugenio Pino, former deputy operational director (DAO) of the National Police accused in this trial, whom he describes as “a person very jealous of his power,” “a climber,” but who “knows perfectly how to give everyone their due and who gets things in a subtle way.” “Pino will be for the Police what Zapatero was for the PSOE,” he said.
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In another conversation between Ríos and Villarejo, the driver reported the movements of Rosalia Iglesias, Bárcenas’ wife, describing the meetings she held with lawyers, the rent payments for the restaurant premises she had in downtown Madrid, and other matters such as “she still eats ham” or “goes to the hairdresser.” “She can say whatever she wants but she still has a high level,” Ríos indicated.
“All my life doing favors for these people for the damn Gürtel issue”
The driver also mentioned Bárcenas’ son, Guillermo, whom he said was “a partygoer” and “less serious.” He also detailed that the family was “generally pissed off.”
In Monday’s session, a conversation was also heard between Villarejo and several businessmen, commissioner José Luis Olivera, accused in this case, and lawyer Javier Iglesias, to whom he said that the former PP secretary general María Dolores de Cospedal was “in a bad mood” because of the appointment of the DAO and that she was “going to talk to ‘El Asturiano’ – another of the nicknames with which, according to investigators, Villarejo identified Rajoy – “to use the appropriate channels”.
Likewise, he exclaimed that he had “spent his whole life doing favors for these people for the damn Gürtel issue,” and, at the same time, lamented because he had “left him stranded like a damn thong”.
“I am retired but I am not dead and I have money to screw them,” Villarejo asserted, adding that they were “all thieves.” “I have Rato – referring to Rodrigo Rato, former Minister of Economy – telling me that the other one was grabbing,” that he had “Rajoy in front of me and each one with the envelope,” the commissioner recounted.
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