"My name is Mariano Rajoy, as everyone knows, and then each one calls me what they want"

San Fernando de HenaresNine years after testifying in the Gürtel case, Mariano Rajoy has returned to the National Court to testify in the Kitchen case. He arrived in San Fernando de Henares at 9:40 a.m. by car and accessed the judicial premises through the parking lot. He responded for thirty minutes, in a statement that began with monosyllables and evasiveness and ended with three pleas in which he distanced himself from the facts and lent a hand to the defenses of the accused. The star phrase came right at the beginning, during the interrogation by the PSOE lawyer, who asked him if he was M. Rajoy, el Asturiano, or el Barbas: "My name is Mariano Rajoy, as everyone knows, and then each person calls me what they want; ask them." After this first display, he dedicated himself to categorically denying everything. "Did you give Bárcenas an envelope with the remainder of the B fund? Did you put the last page of Bárcenas's papers into the shredder? Do you have knowledge that Bárcenas was pressured or intimidated by order of party officials?", asked the PSOE lawyer. These are three questions that the former PP treasurer assured on Monday when he testified as a witness. "Absolutely false", Rajoy limited himself to answering on all three occasions.

Later, Podem's lawyer asked him if he feared that Luis Bárcenas might have "compromising recordings" of him or someone from the party. Three days ago, the former PP treasurer said he had an audio of Rajoy and an audio of Javier Arenas, who had been number two of the popular party with José María Aznar. "My peace of mind was total and absolute," Rajoy replied. "I don't think there were any. If there were, I would have made them known as I made many other documents known," he added.

Finally, he denied that there was "any political operation" to spy on Bárcenas or steal information from him, but rather a "police operation" with the objective of "finding the money" of the former PP treasurer and "finding out who his front men were," and said he was "convinced" that the police operation "fully complied with the law." But he had no knowledge of it: "Neither the minister, nor the secretary of state, nor the president of the Spanish government are involved in police operations."

After he declared, Alberto Núñez Feijóo's PP has closed ranks with Mariano Rajoy. "Time and justice will undoubtedly prove him right, without any doubt," stated the popular deputy secretary Elías Bendodo. On the other hand, the PSOE lamented that the former Spanish president's "severe amnesia" is "indecent" and demanded "explanations" from Feijóo: "He must provide explanations and assume responsibilities, and he must clarify whether he will demand that Rajoy leave the PP," stated the socialist organization secretary, Rebeca Torró.

Cospedal asked Villarejo for help to know if the PP was being spied on

Cospedal asked Villarejo for help to know if the PP was being spied on

María Dolores de Cospedal has denied that she made any "commission" to Villarejo and said that she asked him "questions". "Receiving him and listening to him was my obligation," she justified. What were they talking about? Despite the audios that prove how they pulled the strings within the Catalonia operation, she explained that they were talking about "leaks" from a summary that were "detrimental" to Rita Barberá – who was the mayor of Valencia and a "very good friend" of hers – and about the "more than founded suspicion" that the Popular Party members were being "spied on, followed, or observed" by "someone who had to do" with the Ministry of the Interior, which at that time was led by Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba.

Beyond that, Cospedal has denied being informed of the alleged espionage against Luis Bárcenas or the recruitment as a confidant of the party's former treasurer, Sergio Ríos. "It is not known to me nor was it normal for it to be known to me. I had nothing to do with the Ministry of the Interior," she responded. "I even doubt that was the case," she went on to say at another time. On the other hand, she presented former minister Jorge Fernández Díaz, the main defendant in the Kitchen case, as a "straightforward and upright" person who "has suffered a lot." And, in a way, she took the opportunity to make a self-amendment for having associated with Villarejo: "If we all had a crystal ball, we would surely act differently. [...] In hindsight, things are different.

Cospedal was investigated in this case for two months, but Judge Manuel García-Castellón eventually acquitted her because her participation in the operation was not "duly justified" and referred to the right of assembly: "No person can be suspected of any crime for having maintained contact or met with José Manuel Villarejo.

The Bárcenas boxes in Genoa

An element that has appeared in the statements of Rajoy and Cospedal have been the boxes that Bárcenas left in his office at the PP headquarters on Calle Génova when they kicked him out of the party. He also recounted this episode and explained that his chauffeur, Sergio Ríos, collected all the boxes with his papers and took them to the restoration workshop that his wife had. Now Rajoy and Cospedal have clung to the timeline that the documentation remained at Génova to excuse themselves. "The documents with which he later threatened were in the party headquarters for two months. If we had wanted to see them, imagine... I found it very striking," explained the former Spanish government president. And Cospedal said there were 27 boxes. She informed the party's former treasurer's lawyer that it was necessary for them to be collected. "If they don't come to pick them up, you can tell him [Bárcenas] that I will put everything out on the street," she recalled saying due to the delay. The PP banned Bárcenas from Génova in January 2013 and the boxes were not removed until March 14.

Again, the two interrogations have been filled with interruptions from the president of the court, Teresa Palacios, to the questions of the PSOE lawyer. "I will protest everything today," she warned when she had only been questioning Mariano Rajoy for a few minutes. And the judge got angry. Later, the two also clashed talking about Rita Barberá. "Unfortunately dead. [...] Who was also part of the Gürtel," said Gloria de Pascual. "This comment is out of place for a person who is dead," reproached the magistrate.