Corinna Larsen points finger at Juan Carlos I over CNI threats

MadridCorinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein felt "terrified" in April and May 2012 when the Spanish National Intelligence Centre (CNI) allegedly tried to remove confidential documents about Juan Carlos I from her apartment and offices in Monaco. She confirmed this herself in her testimony as a witness in the trial against former police commissioner José Manuel Villarejo for allegedly slandering former CNI director Félix Sanz Roldán when he claimed Sanz Roldán had threatened to kill the Juan Carlos's former lover in an interview with the TV programme Salvados on La Sexta. When asked why she did not denounce Roldán, Larsen said that if she did she should also denounce Juan Carlos I "for having given him the order". "Since he was protected by the law, it would not have had any consequences," she argued.

Larsen and Villarejo, two of the most prominent names in Spanish politics, were seen on Friday in the first trial against the former National Police commissioner. The Danish-born businesswoman has appeared as the main witness to prove the thesis of Villarejo's defense. "The illegal entry into my offices and my house terrified me," said Larsen during the testimony. "What words did Sanz Roldán use that made you afraid?", the lawyer asked her. "The fact that he gave me instructions and recommendations that I should follow because, if I didn't, he couldn't guarantee my safety or that of my children", Larsen answered.

This version has been categorically denied by Sanz Roldán, who claimed that he saw Villarejo in person on Friday for the first time. The former director of the CNI denied he answered to the alias of Paul Bon, who, according to Larsen, sent her a string of threatening emails. Shielded by the law that allows him not to answer certain questions that involve revealing state secrets, Sanz Roldán has avoided giving details about the meeting he held with the woman involved on May 5, 2012, in a London hotel. "The fact that the head of state security came to visit me was already quite shocking," said Larsen.

With all possible force, Sanz Roldán has stressed that "never, ever, ever" had he threatened the life of a woman and her children, and has gone so far as to say that everything seemed to him "a bit of a joke". The clash between Villarejo and the former director of the intelligence services has been evident, but this does not mean that the former commissioner did not have relations with the Spanish secret services. Although Sanz Roldán said he did not know Villarejo nor that he worked as an undercover agent for the state intelligence agency, the accused has noted that he met with Corinna in London - where he explained Roldán's alleged threats - and recorded the conversation with microphones provided by the CNI.

Protecting the monarchy

In the end, they were both after the same thing: that the compromising information that Larsen had on the ex king would not come to light. "I had a meeting with the CNI and they told me that it was very important to recover documents that affected the security of the state. I tried to seduce her, trick her, get information and gain her trust. I was winning her over little by little," Villarejo said before being asked if the objective was to protect the monarchy. "Absolutely, not just the monarchy, but the state as a whole," he said.

After more than three years in custody, Villarejo has had the opportunity to express himself publicly. "I have no regrets, although I have been in prison for almost four years, and many more await me. For me it has been an honour [...]. This is an absurd country where they insult you by calling you a patriot, by calling you the commissioner of the patriotic brigade. But the obligation of a policeman is to be a patriot! But that's the way things go [...]", he declared.

Despite the fact that at some points it has appeared that the accused was Sanz Roldán, it is Villarejo who is facing a request for two years in prison from the Public Prosecutor's Office. In the presentation of the final report, however, the prosecutor has announced that he is withdrawing the crime of slander, although the State Attorney's Office maintains it. Apart from this crime, he is also accused of false accusations for having attributed to Sanz Roldán the leaking to El País of a photograph of him getting off a plane in Melilla in 2015. The former commissioner assured that it could only have been provided by the CNI - Sanz Roldán directly "or a person authorised by him" - because it appeared two years after the time of the events and, precisely, coinciding with the first news about the Villarejo scandals. But Sanz Roldán said he did not see the image until it was published in El País.

In fact, he has assured that there is no evidence to corroborate that it was in Melilla in 2015 - beyond the photo caption written in the newspaper - and he did not find it strange that it was not signed. Villarejo claims the photo was taken in a secret anti-terrorist operation in Morocco which is at the root of the confrontation with Sanz Roldán, whom he described in recorded conversations as the "generalissimo" and a "troll". "My intention was not to insult, but to define", Villarejo justified himself.