"Victoria Álvarez is paid by the Police": the new Villarejo audio that links Operation Catalonia to the Pujol case

BarcelonaOperation Catalonia is the "illicit" origin of the case against the Pujol family. This is the argument being presented by the defense lawyers for the former president's family in the trial at the National Court. The court, in fact, has accepted that the leadership of the "patriotic police" must testify as a witness in the trialAnd this Thursday, new evidence of his role in the case against the Pujol family was published. It is an audio recording from 2017. disseminated by Eldiario.esIn a recording, former police commissioner José Manuel Villarejo confirms that Victoria Álvarez, former partner of Jordi Pujol Ferrusola and a key figure in the origin of the case against the family, was paid by the National Police. He states this in a conversation with former PP Secretary General María Dolores de Cospedal. According to the aforementioned media outlet, the conversation took place on September 12, 2017, shortly before the October 1 referendum, at the PP headquarters on Génova Street. "If they find out that Vicky is being paid by the Police, we're in trouble, don't you think?" Villarejo says at one point in the recording. "Well, yes," Cospedal replies, in further evidence implicating the PP leader in Operation Catalonia. The recording, according to the same report, has been in the hands of the National Court judges investigating the Kitchen case for two years, who have allegedly ignored it.

The payments to the patriotic police in Álvarez The fact that he received payments from secret funds for his collaboration with the Pujol investigation had already come to light years ago. The former partner of the eldest Pujol son had even admitted to it. And the new audio recording would confirm that he was still receiving payments at the height of the Process. The recording also takes on particular relevance during the trial at the National Court. It's worth recalling that the case originated with a 2012 complaint filed by Álvarez, in which he explained that the former president's family regularly transferred money to Andorra. At the start of the trial, the Pujol defense team requested the annulment of the proceedings, alleging the illegal acquisition of evidence by the police.

This is not the first recorded conversation between Villarejo and Cospedal to come to light, nor is it the first to implicate the former number 2 secretary of the Popular Party in the maneuvers of the former commissioner, whether to steal compromising information from the party's former treasurer Luis Bárcenas – the so-called Kitchen case – to cover up dirty laundry or create false evidence against the independence movementSo far, however, the former defense minister, who has denied the existence of Operation Catalonia, has evaded all investigations against her.