The former police chief helps the PP in the Kitchen case: he has no "knowledge" of the illegal espionage of Bárcenas

MadridIn the Kitchen case trial, in which the leadership of Mariano Rajoy's Ministry of the Interior sits on the defendant's bench, political leaders of the Popular Party are beginning to be interrogated. After the statements of six investigators, it was the turn of Ignacio Cosidó, who was director general of the Spanish police from 2012 to 2016. In a statement that lasted more than an hour, he disassociated himself from the espionage of Luis Bárcenas and framed the investigation into the former PP treasurer within the Gürtel case, concerning the illegal financing of the PP. "I always understood that the UDEF was carrying it out," he stated when questioned by the prosecutor. The UDEF is the Central Unit for Economic and Fiscal Crime. "I knew the UDEF was involved, but I didn't know other units were involved," he added later. The trial suspects the involvement of the deputy operational directorate (DAO) and the Central Unit for Operational Support (UCAO). Five hours later, on the other side of the Plaza de la Vila de París, the trial against José Luis Ábalosresumed. The star witness was Isabel Pardo de Vera, former president of Adif, who denied that there were irregularities in the purchase of masks – a "wise decision" – and in the hiring of Jessica Rodríguez. Let's take it step by step.

"Have you ever heard of operations with informants called kitchen or cocina?", asked the PSOE lawyer, Gloria de Pascual, to Ignacio Cosidó during the interrogation at the National Court. "I don't remember. I perfectly remember the investigation of the Gürtel, but that they were called cook or

kitchen, I have no record of having heard it," replied Ignacio Cosidó, who was also the PP spokesperson in the Senate and was the one who boasted of controlling the criminal chamber of the Supreme Court "through the back door". He also did not know if Bárcenas' driver, Sergio Ríos, was an informant: "It was classified information and I had no knowledge that there was an identity acting within the framework of this operation".

Ignacio Cosidó also spoke about the retired commissioner José Manuel Villarejo. He said he did not have a "relationship of trust" with him and explained that he saw him once in the building of the Spanish Police General Directorate: "It was a protocol greeting without me giving him any instructions or him giving me any information." But Villarejo's lawyer, Antonio García Cabrera, cast doubt on this. "A chance encounter in your office alone?" he asked. "We left the door open and it was really brief," the witness replied. However, five years ago, in the investigation committee of Congress, Villarejo fully implicated him in the operation: he recalled that Cosidó made it clear to him that Operation Kitchen was a "very important matter" for which Mariano Rajoy had "interest".

The surveillance of Bárcenas's wife

For her part, Marta Giménez-Cassina, lawyer for the Bárcenas family, has asked Ignacio Cosidó about the surveillance of the wife of the former PP treasurer, Rosalía Iglesias. The witness has maintained that the surveillance would have had to be "always with the responsibility of the UDEF" and "under the supervision" of the investigating judge. The other three witnesses of the morning have also spoken about the surveillance of Rosalía Iglesias. Enrique Barón, who was head of the General Information Commissariat between 2012 and 2017, has assured that he did not receive any request for support from the UDEF or the judicial police to follow Bárcenas' wife and has said that he had no knowledge of the operation.

Ábalos Case: the former president of Adif boasts about the “success” in the purchase of masks

Abalos Case: Adif's former president boasts about the "success" in the purchase of masks

The sixth session of the trial in the Ábalos case has begun this afternoon at the Supreme Court. The first witness was Isabel Pardo de Vera, who was president of Adif from 2018 to 2021 and is under investigation by the National Court for the hiring of Jessica Rodríguez and for public works tenders in the Cerdán case. She denied everything and presented her testimony as a "chance to defend herself." Regarding the purchase of masks from Soluciones de Gestión –the company at the epicenter of the Koldo case–, she defended that the results were "satisfactory" in a context of health emergency: "My team made the right decision, I don't know what would have happened if I had made another decision".

What is under suspicion is the purchase of five million masks for 12.5 million euros. "I did not receive any instructions. The contracting body is Adif and it is the only one that can decide who the supplier is," she stressed. And she defended the payment system: "The law allowed this money to be advanced, but Adif considered it a risk and put up barriers. Funds were released as the masks were received".

At another point, Isabel Pardo de Vera expressed surprise at having seen Víctor de Aldama – the alleged fixer in the Koldo case – at the Ministry of Transport on numerous occasions. "It struck me that a person who did not belong to the ministry was there several times. He was there more often than he should have been," she admitted. "On one occasion, I found Koldo and Aldama in the minister's office, which shocked me," she added. When she asked Ábalos about it, he attributed it to him being Koldo's friend: "He gave me no further explanation".

Finally, she had to explain the hiring of Jessica Rodríguez, the ex-partner of José Luis Ábalos. She explained that Koldo García sent her his resume and she forwarded it to the president of INECO – the public company that ended up hiring her –, as she had a good relationship with her: "I never passed it on as a requirement, I did not have the authority to give orders to INECO and I forwarded the resume in case there were vacancies, if she met the profile and if there was an open procedure." Despite two witnesses claiming that Pardo de Vera had asked them to stop "bothering" Jessica on Ábalos's orders, she denied it: "Absolutely not, the minister did not call me about this woman, it is impossible that he called me".