Manel Bustos breaks a decade of silence: "I wasn't involved in Operation Catalunya. Camacho was."

Barcelona"I wasn't involved in Operation Catalunya. Mrs. Sánchez-Camacho was." Former Sabadell mayor Manel Bustos, convicted of corruption and still facing several trials in the Mercurio case, was blunt. After a decade of media silence, Bustos has granted an interview to The morning of Catalunya Ràdio In this case, she denied any involvement in the dirty war against the independence movement and directly pointed the finger at former leader of the Catalan People's Party (PP), Alícia Sánchez-Camacho. All this, after she and former PP secretary general and former minister María Dolores de Cospedal They denied having participated in the dirty war against the independence movement, Despite the audio recordings showing they discussed payments to informants of Commissioner José Manuel Villarejo. From the Moncloa Palace, the Minister of Justice, Félix Bolaños, described Cospedal's statement to the commission of inquiry on Monday as "infinitely hypocritical," but did not comment on whether the Prosecutor's Office should take action against her.

However, the former PSC mayor has admitted to having met with Villarejo after representatives of the former commissioner, with the connivance of the PP, offered to remedy his legal situation. As he explained, two police officers offered him help to put an end to "the breakdown" affecting him, referring to the investigations against him, during a meeting in a Barcelona hotel. Bustos has attributed the investigations to alleged "sewers" that have also operated in Catalonia to destroy his political career. "I feel like a victim of the sewers of the State and of Catalonia. Not of the Generalitat or its government, but of some police officials and some political leaders," he stressed. However, Bustos declined to name names. "I can't prove it," he said.

However, the former mayor of Sabadell did reveal that it was Sánchez-Camacho who told him that the Mossos d'Esquadra were investigating him for corruption in Sabadell that would end up landing him in jail. In his opinion, the former leader of the Catalan People's Party (PP) was on the case because of the "very good relationship" he maintained with the Prosecutor's Office. While awaiting the pending trials linked to the Mercurio case, Bustos has accumulated three convictions for corruption that have led him to spend two and a half years in prison: for influence peddling to cancel some fines for his son, to secure a connection with a senior official of the tripartite coalition at City Hall and for credit card payments using public funds. The PSC suspended him from membership for these cases.

"Obsessed" with Mas and Forcadell

According to his account of the events, Villarejo summoned him to an office in Madrid and assured him that there was a "political operation" against him: "Don't worry, we'll help you." He specifically asked him about two people: the former president of the Generalitat (Catalan government), Artur Mas—one of the main targets of the dirty war against the independence movement—and the then president of the ANC (National Action Party), Carme Forcadell, also a former councilor in Sabadell. Bustos maintains that he spoke well of both of them in Villarejo, especially Mas, and asserted that they were honorable people. "I have a personal affection for Mas. He worried about my son when he had cancer," he added. According to him, Villarejo proved to be "obsessed" with both leaders, to the point of wanting to attribute a secret daughter to the former president.

Beyond the sewers, Bustos has lamented the personal situation he finds himself in after the years he has spent behind bars, despite the support of his family and friends. He rarely leaves the house and suffers from a heart condition. "More than once I've thought that life isn't worth living," he lamented. He admitted to having been "arrogant" and having "made mistakes" for which, he maintains, he has already paid by going to jail. But he has denied, as he did before the Parliament, having pocketed commissions for public works awarded in Sabadell. "Operation Mercury is a political-judicial operation," he said.

Faced with Bustos's witness, who claimed to be "devastated," the Sabadell Free of Corruption platform reacted harshly and accused the former mayor of "playing the victim" and wanting to make people forget the "damage" he caused to the city. Immediately afterward, Bustos's wife went live, the journalist Montse Costa, who wanted to emphasize the "complicated" situation the family is experiencing due to her husband's condition.