Correa confesses in the final Gürtel trial, the plot that brought down Rajoy.

San Fernando de Henares"I acknowledge them [the facts]," stated businessman Francisco Correa, leader of the Gürtel case, in the latest trial on the plot that began this Monday in the National Court. This is the main cause of a case that led to Pedro Sánchez's successful motion of censure against Mariano Rajoy in 2018, following the ruling in the first phase of the Gürtel case that convicted the PP as the party responsible for profit. The National Court sentenced Correa to 51 years in prison for leading the scheme of commissions to PP politicians in exchange for contracts with companies in its network, but also sentenced the party's former treasurer, Luis Bárcenas, to 33 years in prison, and the PP as a legal entity.

Now Correa and his right-hand man, the former secretary of the Galician PP's organization, Pablo Crespo, in addition to around twenty other defendants, are once again facing charges. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office is seeking 77 years in prison for both ringleaders for alleged crimes against the public treasury for concealing assets and laundering ill-gotten gains. However, both Correa and Crespo are arriving at the trial after seeking a deal with the Prosecutor's Office to obtain a reduced sentence in exchange for admitting to the crimes they are accused of. At the beginning of his interrogation, the ringleader confessed that he has never paid taxes in Spain.

In the document sent to the National Court, to which the Efe news agency has had access, Correa admits, for example, that he had money hidden mainly in Switzerland, and that at one point he tried to regularize his situation, but Ramón Blanco Balín, the financial mastermind of the plot, dissuaded him from Soleado, who, he said, used figures such as King Juan Carlos I when he hid money in Switzerland. After 10 years in prison, Correa allowed the release of €20.7 million to cover civil liability.

Apart from the 2018 sentence, over the last few years there have been a dozen trials related to this plot, and the judge has confirmed that from 1999 to 2009 this network manipulated public tenders to profit through duplicate items and unfolded margins. All this, in addition to commissions and gifts to PP politicians in exchange for contract awards. The PP, in this regard, has been convicted three times: for profiting during the first stage of the Gürtel scandal, which earned it a fine of 245,000 euros; for the Boadilla del Monte plot, in which the judge imprisoned its mayor, Arturo González Panero; and for which the PP had to pay 204,198 euros, and as a subsidiary civil party responsible for the headquarters works, which were paid for with black money.

The PSOE pressures the PP

The PSOE has not missed the start of this trial, although the PP is not accused in this main case. "The Gürtel case was not an isolated case: it was an illegal financing system that operated for almost two decades. A black box that was used to pay for election campaigns, party events in Madrid and Valencia, and even the renovation of the PP headquarters on Génova Street with dirty money," Socialist sources said on Monday, adding that its leadership is trying to hide behind the word "past." But it isn't, because the PP is Gürtel, and Gürtel is the PP." "[José María] knew Aznar because he worked for the PP," Correa said at one point during the interrogation.

In the trial that began this Monday, there are five defendants who have not admitted to the facts, and the Public Prosecutor's Office has made them the main focus. One of them is Guillermo Martínez Lluch, whom Correa met again in the National Court this Monday 20 years later, according to his statement. According to the Prosecutor's Office's interrogation of Correa, Martínez Lluch wanted to remind the leader of the plot that he did not know González Panero, although telephone conversations between the two have been overheard in which it is clear that Martínez Lluch knew perfectly well who "Albondiguilla" was, the nickname given to "Corren" to "Corren." After the statement of the leader of the plot, twelve other defendants have admitted to the facts, and this Tuesday it will be Crespo's turn.

Are Correa and Crespo still in prison?

The two ringleaders of the plot, Correa and Crespo, were imprisoned in 2017, but have been serving time on the third degree for some time after serving half of their sentences. Correa decided to cooperate with the justice system from his first sentence in order to obtain prison benefits. Bárcenas, for his part, initially denied the facts but later reached an agreement with the court. The former PP treasurer obtained the third degree a year ago after serving time in Soto del Real prison and a social integration center.