Day of revelations and denials at the Supreme Court. After Victor de Aldama's explosive statement, which shot left and right to try to splash Pedro Sánchez and question the PSOE's financing, it is now the turn of Koldo García, who was an advisor to José Luis Ábalos in the Ministry of Transport and for whom the Prosecutor's Office is seeking nineteen and a half years in prison. "Ask me absolutely everything to try to prove my innocence," the prosecutor urged right at the start. And, after five and a half hours, he has resolved one of the great questions of the trial: what are "chistorras"? A Guardia Civil report suspected that it was the code name to refer to 500 euro banknotes. And Koldo García, when questioned by his lawyer, confirmed it, despite the fact that last October, in a couple of television interviews, he stated that the chistorras were "sausages".

Key day in the mask case trial at the Supreme Court. After ten sessions, it is the turn of the declarations of the three defendants: José Luis Ábalos, Koldo García and Víctor de Aldama. The only one who could be interrogated this Wednesday was the businessman and alleged facilitator of the plot, who agreed to collaborate with justice a year and a half ago when he was in preventive detention –"what a invention", replied Pedro Sánchez– and for whom the Prosecutor's Office requests a much lower penalty than for the rest of the defendants. Just as he did at that initial moment of the investigation, he has decided to elaborate, stretch the blanket and point directly to Pedro Sánchez. Without providing evidence and relying solely on his word, he has given meticulous details to try to accredit his privileged access to the spheres of power, has detailed the roadmap of the alleged corruption and has expressed "remorse". "If there is a hierarchy of a criminal organization, Sánchez is in the first echelon", he said. "I was told that the president knew everything", he added in a statement that lasted more than six and a half hours.

The inheritance from grandfather Florenci has focused the second part of Jordi Pujol Ferrusola's statement at the National Court, which ended up lasting more than six hours. In a session monopolized by the prosecutor's questions, the eldest son of the former president of the Generalitat explained how he managed to multiply grandfather Florenci's inheritance: the original 140 million pesetas (0.8 million euros) turned into six million euros thanks —he repeated fifteen times— to "financial sheets", a concept he already used in 2015 when he testified in the Barcelona courts. However, eleven years ago, in the Parliament of Catalonia, the CEO of Andbank in Spain, Rafael Gascó, replied that he did not know what they were: "It is the first time I have heard the name of this instrument in 35 years of banking experience," he said. The eldest son of the former president of the Generalitat has pointed out that in twenty years he made between 20,000 and 25,000 movements.

After the decision to exclude President Jordi Pujol from the case, the main event at the National High Court has been the testimony of his eldest son, for whom the Prosecutor's Office is seeking 29 years in prison for five crimes. The first session lasted almost three hours, until his lawyer asked to end it upon seeing him "manifestly tired". Prosecutor Fernando Bermejo has dedicated himself to reviewing his businesses in detail, and the firstborn has defended his work tooth and nail. "What I have done is well done" and "there is nothing to hide", he claimed at two points during the interrogation.

Jordi Pujol i Soley has finally been excluded from the judicial case that has his family at its epicenter after fourteen years of investigation. The procedure, which began in 2012 concerning his eldest son and worsened with the confession about grandfather Florenci's inheritance in 2014, has ended in the former president's case because he is not in a condition to be tried. Too much time has passed and his cognitive abilities are no longer adequate. This has been decided by the National Court, which has communicated his exclusion from the procedure after having seen him face to face. As the doctors had already repeatedly stated, the judges have confirmed the "impossibility" of Jordi Pujol continuing as an accused with "full knowledge and capabilities".

Junts per Catalunya will accompany Jordi Pujol to San Fernando de Henares to "show him support". Next Monday, the former president of the Generalitat must go in person to the National Court so that a forensic doctor can examine him and the tribunal that is judging his family and nine businessmen can determine whether or not to keep him on the defendants' bench. If the decision is not to exempt him, he will subsequently have to testify as a defendant. Despite this, the forensic doctors said in November that "he is not in physical or cognitive condition" to be tried.

The National High Court does not want to fall into ageism –discrimination based on age– with Jordi Pujol. As the ARA has learned, this is how the president of the court judging the Pujol case, José Ricardo de Prada, argued at the start of Friday's trial session, the last one before the defendants' statements. It comes three days after it became known that the former president of the Generalitat will have to travel to Madrid on Monday for a forensic doctor to examine him and certify whether he is in a condition to continue on the defendants' bench. "The court does not want to fall into ageism," Judge Prada stated before the public session began and after one of the Pujol family's lawyers asked him to address the issue. In other words, they do not want to stop summoning him due to his advanced age. However, Jordi Pujol is not only 95 years old, but he also has markers of Alzheimer's in his blood. "I want Mr. Jordi Pujol Soley to participate in the proceedings with the certainty that he is in a condition to endure the trial," the judge added. "The court does not start from prejudice, it wants to see exactly his capabilities to determine whether he should continue or not," he concluded. Jordi Pujol's defense has opted not to file any new written submissions because they consider the decision to have been made and there is no room for modification. And they are leaning towards Jordi Pujol traveling to Madrid by car. It is not yet known for certain whether he will enter through the parking lot or not.

Nine 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.

One of the questions that the eighth day of the Ábalos case trial has tried to resolve is where the cash bills that José Luis Ábalos and Koldo García had came from. During the investigation, the Civil Guard detected more than 95,000 euros from the former Minister of Transport and former number three of the PSOE without bank tracing. This reinforced the thesis of "the existence of undeclared cash income" and triggered the opening of a separate piece in the National Court on the financing of the PSOE. The investigating judge raised the hypothesis that the PSOE helped Ábalos or Koldo to "launder" money. This Wednesday, in the Supreme Court, two lines of action have become apparent during the testimony of Mariano Moreno, who was the party's manager between 2017 and 2021. First, he assured that Ferraz "never" handed over 100, 200, and 500 euro bills, which are the ones the Civil Guard suspects Koldo and his circle managed – using code names. Later, the lawyer for Ábalos's former advisor, wanting to show that all the money he received was "of legal origin," wanted to highlight possible errors in the documentation that the socialists sent to the courts.

Jordi Pujol i Soley will have to go "personally" to Madrid on Monday, April 27, for a forensic doctor to examine him as a preliminary step to his declaration as a defendant in the trial against his family and nine businessmen that has been underway in the National Court for five months. This is stated in a resolution, to which ARA has had access, which summons the former president of the Generalitat at 9:30 in the morning, despite the fact that "forensic doctors said in November"he is not in physical or cognitive condition" to be tried. Now the National Court is once again offering him the opportunity to provide "documents he deems appropriate for his medical evaluation." At 10 a.m. the declarations of the defendants will begin. Furthermore, the forensic doctor will have to be present "for the entire duration" of Pujol's declaration. Afterwards, it will be the turn of his eldest son, Jordi Pujol Ferrusola, who has been attending the sessions throughout the trial and who spearheaded the businesses and operations at the center of the case. The Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office is requesting nine years in prison for the former Catalan president for the crimes of illicit association and money laundering.

An audio in which Mariano Rajoy is 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 PP's slush fund. This has been one of the protagonists of the expected declaration of Luis Bárcenas as a victim in the "This operation begins at the Popular Party headquarters with the deletion of data from computer hard drives. That is to say, it is initiated by the party leaders and then transferred to the part related to the Ministry of the Interior," Luis Bárcenas underlined during his declaration, which lasted four and a half hours. However, despite the PSOE's attempt to have the PP respond as a beneficiary through a lucrative title

A poorly informed passerby wondered at five in the afternoon if the hundreds of Venezuelans gathered in Madrid's Puerta del Sol were celebrating a football triumph. Seeing children with Venezuela's colors painted on their faces, the sea of flags that flooded the square, and the festive atmosphere that hovered over the event could have suggested it. But no. "It's living what we always wanted there, freedom," summarizes Francisco, who has been living in Madrid for eight years and introduces María Corina Machado as a "bulwark of the fight for freedom." For Clara, who has also been in Spain for eight years, it is "the great hope for achieving a democratic country forever." They are two of the thousands of Venezuelans waiting for the leader of the Venezuelan opposition on the day she has been distinguished by Isabel Díaz Ayuso with the Gold Medal of the Community of Madrid. "She is our future president, the one who has liberated us and the one who has taken away the dictator," thanks Mariel, who left Venezuela 26 years ago and now lives in Seville. "Donald Trump is not the ideal president, but he has given us the encouragement and hope that we can indeed get out of this," acknowledges Frai, who has been living in Valencia for three years.

Vox left all the regional coalition governments with the PP in the summer of 2024 in protest because the Popular Party accepted the arrival of 400 minors from Ceuta and the Canary Islands. It is not strange that, two years later, the immigration folder has been key to resuming the alliance with the PP, for now, in the Extremadura executive. Four months after the elections, the PP has agreed with the far-right to limit the rights of immigrants, starting by committing to reject the arrival of irregulars by all means, "legal, juridical and political", whether they are minors or adults. The government of María Guardiola will not offer new places of reception and will try to empty the current ones "working actively to return unaccompanied minors to their countries of origin". A clear declaration of intent, despite the fact that Extremadura does not have the powers to expel people from its territory.

The trial against the Pujol Ferrusola family has entered its final stretch. This week has been dominated by the experts proposed by the prosecution and the defense to assess the business dealings of the eldest son of the former president of the Generalitat. And the highlight has been the confrontation between two tax experts and three specialists proposed by the firstborn's defense, which began on Tuesday and will conclude next Friday in an extraordinary session. In total, it will amount to over ten hours of testimony.

In 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.

After three months of listening to witnesses, the trial against the Pujol Ferrusola family is immersed in the declarations of experts, who must shed light on the business dealings of the eldest son of the former president of the Generalitat. Two of those who appeared this Tuesday at the Audiencia Nacional were names that emerged in the media in July in the framework of the Montoro case: Francisco Piedras and Manuel de Vicente-Tutor. They are tax inspectors, they are managing partners of Equipo Económico – the firm founded by Cristóbal Montoro and which is at the epicenter of the alleged corruption scheme – and they are being investigated by the courts of Tarragona.

Five hours after the session of the trial against José Luis Ábalos, seated among the members of the court, ended, Manuel Marchena solemnly entered the noble hall of the Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation of Spain to be admitted as a member. A protocolary act in which, surrounded by the most prominent names in Spanish justice, he delivered a 45-minute speech on the incorporation of electronic data into criminal proceedings. Listening to him – and taking some photos with their mobile phones – was the spokesperson for Justice of the PP, María Jesús Moro. She arrived alone with ten minutes to spare before the event began and, while looking for her seat, received a particular welcome. Julián Sánchez Melgar – who is also judging José Luis Ábalos and who was State Attorney General under Mariano Rajoy after the death of José Manuel Maza – touched her shoulder to greet her. After a brief conversation, she went to sit down. And – like the entire room – she applauded Manuel Marchena when he finished his speech and when he received the insignia that accredits him as a member.

Two years after initiating the investigationthat triggered the famous five days of reflection for Pedro Sánchez, Judge Juan Carlos Peinado has decided to close the investigation into Begoña Gómez, bringing her a step closer to trial for four crimes. She is accused of influence peddling, embezzlement, business corruption, and misappropriation. The magistrate believes that her status as the Spanish president's wife served "to influence" and allowed her "access to exceptional institutional dialogues".Hours after the decision, the Spanish president has again indirectly accused the magistrate of engaging in politics. One of the key points of Peinado's thesis is the solicitation of funds for the chair that Sánchez's wife co-directed at the Complutense University of Madrid, which is at the epicenter of the case. The judge states that Gómez sought the funds "ostensibly" for the project, but that – in reality – they were to "be integrated into her personal assets".

One of the missions of the Supreme Court in the first three days of the trial against José Luis Ábalos has been to reconstruct the alleged cronyism of two women close to the then Minister of Transport and former organization secretary of the PSOE. They are Jessica Rodríguez, who was his partner for a year and a half; and Claudia Montes, with whom he maintained a "virtual" relationship. The first has admitted that she was receiving payment without going to work – a total of 44,000 euros at Ineco and Tragsatec–. The second woman claims that she did fulfill her duties at Logirail, although others dispute this. Amidst contradictions and labor disputes, several witnesses have tried to shed light on this this week at the high court. "I had a contract, but I wasn't actively working," Jessica Rodríguez acknowledged on Tuesday. Marino Turiel, José Luis Ábalos' lawyer, suspects there is a hidden agreement between her and Víctor de Aldama: "It is very clear that there is a pact and an agreement".

The key witness in the third session of the trial against José Luis Ábalos was Carmen Pano. And her statement followed the script: as she said at the Audiencia Nacional, during the investigation at the Supreme Court and at the Senate's investigation committee, she reiterated and to the Senate's investigation committee, But there was a second delivery that raises more doubts. Carmen Pano first said that the "operation" was that Claudio Rivas made transfers to her accounts and she withdrew the money in cash. And it wasn't until half an hour later that she admitted that in the second case she didn't directly withdraw the money from the bank, but rather a certain Lolo, a "worker or friend" of Claudio Rivas, brought it to her home. She didn't get to count it, but – in theory – there were also 45,000 euros. She took it back to Aldama's office, but later he called her "quite angry" and told her that 10,000 euros were missing. "Therefore, I deduce that there were 35,000 euros," the businesswoman acknowledged. This is a point that only came to light at the end of her statement, after spending a long time equating the two deliveries and without having mentioned this unforeseen event.