The hour of truth in the trial of the Kitchen case: Jorge Fernández Díaz and his former right-hand man testify

MadridAfter almost two months of trial in the Kitchen case at the National Court, with statements from more than 150 witnesses and having listened to dozens of audios, it is the turn of the accused. Francisco Martínez, who was number two at the Ministry of the Interior as Secretary of State for Security, opens the proceedings. He will be followed by former minister Jorge Fernández Díaz. Both, along with seven other members of the Interior leadership, are accused of having orchestrated a network to spy on Luis Bárcenas, former treasurer of the PP, and steal compromising information about the famous PP slush fund. They allegedly did this through Sergio Ríos, who was Bárcenas' driver and, in exchange for betraying him, allegedly received money from reserved funds. The Public Prosecutor's Office is seeking fifteen years in prison for Fernández Díaz and Martínez for the crimes of cover-up, embezzlement, and invasion of privacy.

When he declared as a victim, Bárcenas assured that he had an audio in which Mariano Rajoy could be heard in the office on the seventh floor of the headquarters on Génova street receiving an envelope of cash and destroying the documentation that proved the existence of the slush fund. However, the recording never saw the light of day and was allegedly stolen by the patriotic police. "This operation begins at the headquarters of the Popular Party with the erasure of the hard drives of the computers. That is to say, it begins with those responsible for the party and then it is transferred to the part related to the Ministry of the Interior," stressed Luis Bárcenas. For their part, both Mariano Rajoy and María Dolores de Cospedal completely distanced themselves from the operation: they played dumb and flatly denied having any knowledge of it.