The “progressive” judge –or at least proposed by Podem– José Ricardo de Prada summoned President Jordi Pujol to the National Court in Madrid first thing Monday morning. More than making him testify, the intention was to subject him to another forensic examination to exhibit him as a wounded trophy, if not defeated. And this, to then be able to treat him as disabled and remove him from the case and keep open forever the suspicion of hypothetical guilt, something he himself wanted to defend himself against until the end. Perhaps therein lay the risk!

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.

The last time there was similar expectation in San Fernando de Henares was on November 24 last year. A crowd of journalists waited from early morning in freezing cold for the arrival of the Pujol family. It was the day that what has been dubbed the trial of the decade began, although after that day the media spotlight has not been the same. In Madrid, comments in talk shows have been minimal in recent months, and the trial has not made headlines on any other day than the first. Until this Monday, April 27, when there were more or less the same journalists again, this time suffering from the heat and with maximum expectation due to the widely misunderstood decision of the tribunal president, Ricardo de Prada, to make Jordi Pujol appear in person in the Spanish capital. "He has discovered the Mediterranean Sea," quipped a lawyer, when they decided to exclude the former president from the case due to incapacity.

Former president Jordi Pujol, as was foreseeable, has been excluded from the trial against him and his family in the National Court. The reason has been the same that at the time removed his wife from the process: the lack of mental health, declared by the forensic doctors of Barcelona. And now from Madrid. A second examination was not necessary, because they belong to the same national body. And even less necessary was an examination by judges, because they are not doctors.

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.

The trial for Jordi Pujol has ended. The court has removed him from the case due to his inability to defend himself. What we advanced could happen last Wednesday has happened. They have excluded him because the man was not in condition and because, fundamentally, it was much more convenient for them to remove him from the case than to acquit him, which, judging by the trial, was going to happen. A few minutes before eleven in the morning, two hours after the former president's arrival at the Audiencia, the president of the court, José Ricardo Prada, explained it like this:Court President: “The court had a very special interest in having an interview with Mr. Jordi Pujol Soley and knowing firsthand what his personal situation was. / The conclusion that the court draws or obtains is the impossibility of Mr. Jordi Pujol Soley remaining with full knowledge and capacities in this trial. Therefore, it is agreed that from this moment on he is… I don't want to use the word ‘expelled’, but yes, effectively, he is out of the proceedings. / The decision of the chamber has depended on the medical reports that existed previously, on the forensic medical report, which had already been provided at the beginning of the hearing sessions, and on the last medical report that the forensic doctor has issued to the court. And, as I say, also on the essential personal contact, since it is the court that must make the decision and cannot defer this decision to anyone else.”In this conversation that the judge mentioned, Pujol told the doctors he wanted to testify, which is what he had to say. Pujol is not one to hide, and if they were going to remove him from the case, the judge had to do it, not for him to ask for it. But, obviously, everyone knew that Pujol was not in a condition to testify, because he gets tired quickly, he doesn't hear well, he repeats himself and makes others repeat, he is nearly 96 years old, he walks with a walker and gets up late. The questions we have been asking ourselves these days persist: if the doctors had already said he couldn't go, if to have this final conversation with Pujol it wasn't necessary to make him go to Madrid, why did they make him go?  Well, so that it wouldn't be said that he was soft, and so that… I already told you last Wednesday. I told them: “Don't think that what I'm going to say now is an exaggerated flourish. Making him go to Madrid can also have another meaning (besides the mockery): that the judge covers himself and can say that, after making him go and have him examined by the forensic doctors, they are removing him from the case. Fundamentally, it is very possible that the court deems it better to say that they cannot judge him than to have to acquit him, which, seeing how the trial has gone, would not be at all unlikely.” And so it has been. Of course, let him pay the penalty of the news first, if nothing else. President Pujol is out of the case, but the trial of his children continues. Pujol will not have an acquittal from criminal justice. He will have the judgment of history. Good morning.

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.

Jordi Pujol i Soley will have to go personally to Madrid next Monday for a forensic doctor to examine him. If he gives the green light, Pujol will have to testify as a defendant in the trial against his family and several businessmen that has been taking place at the National Court for five months. In November, when the trial began, five forensic experts said he "is not in physical or cognitive condition" to be tried. Five months have passed and here we are again, the court wants to re-examine Pujol.Today the children are meeting with their lawyer, Cristóbal Martell, but there is nothing to be done to prevent the trip. In terms of cognitive abilities, Jordi Pujol is more or less the same as in November, although in an obvious process of regression. Consider that at the beginning of June, less than two months from now, he will be 96 years old. Apparently, Pujol does not understand why he was able to testify from home, remotely, when the trial began, and yet now they are making him go, even though, however old he may be, he understands that the images of him heading towards the Court and on the defendants' bench are very tempting.The question remains: why don't they want Pujol to testify telematically now? Why don't they trust what the forensic experts said in November? Because since November, Pujol may not have worsened, but he certainly hasn't improved. And why don't they send the forensic experts to Barcelona and examine him here? President Puigdemont yesterday cried out: “They can’t be more miserable”, he denounces. He believes that the National Court is seeking “scorn” and a photo to “humiliate not only a person, but above all what he represents”, and says that if it weren’t for his condition as an exile, he would have accompanied Pujol to Madrid “with great pleasure”. It is true that we saw Pujol not many weeks ago going to vote in the elections of Barça. And that he attends public events. But let's not be mistaken. One thing is to go to vote, which only requires a physical effort, and another is to sit in a trial in which you are accused and they ask for prison for you, and in which you have to defend yourself. Everyone who has spoken to Pujol says that he doesn't hear, that he makes them repeat the questions and that he asks you again something that you have only just answered him a moment ago.If we talk about justice, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office is asking for nine years in prison for the former Catalan president for the crimes of illicit association and money laundering. But you know what happens? That over thirty sessions, with 95% of the trial held, with expert and face-to-face testimonies, the former president's name has practically not even been mentioned. Therefore, and do not think that what I am about to say is an exaggerated pirouette, sending him to Madrid may also have another meaning (in addition to the mockery): that the judge may cover himself, may say that, after having him go there and have him examined by forensic experts, they are removing him from the case. In essence, it is quite possible that the court would prefer to say that they cannot judge him rather than having to acquit him, which, seeing how the trial has gone, would not be at all unlikely.Good morning.

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

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.

The day before the trial of the Kitchen case began at the National Court, the PP announced that its strategy was to create a firewall. "Feijóo is not the Kitchen," party sources proclaimed. This has been the popular party's approach throughout the first and second days of the oral hearing. The argument that current PP leaders repeat both in public and in private is that it is a matter related to the past, which has absolutely nothing to do with Alberto Núñez Feijóo and the current popular president's team. The person in charge of verbalizing this on Tuesday was Alicia García, spokesperson in the Senate, in a press conference focused on attacking Pedro Sánchez for the alleged corruption surrounding him. "We are talking about a case from more than ten or fifteen years ago, but today a case from fifteen minutes ago from the PSOE is being judged. And those that remain," she defended.

The National High Court kicks off the trial of the Kitchen case. It is the operation orchestrated by the state's "sewers" to steal from Luis Bárcenas, the former treasurer of the PP, information or data that could compromise leaders of the Popular Party within the framework of the Gürtel case. Sitting on the defendant's bench are, among others, Jorge Fernández Díaz (who was Minister of the Interior from 2011 to 2016), Francisco Martínez (who was Secretary of State for the Interior), Eugenio Pino (who was deputy operational director of the Spanish police) and retired commissioner José Manuel Villarejo. "I face the trial with great enthusiasm, I trust that the truth will prevail," Villarejo acknowledged upon arriving at the headquarters of the National High Court in San Fernando de Henares. And he said he has "no fear" of going to prison: "If they put me in again, it will be to not get out. Since they've seen that I don't shut up, it's normal that this time the plan works out for them," he added.

Year 2013. Mariano Rajoy governs Spain with an absolute majority and the "papers of Luis Bácenas" come to light, revealing the existence of a black box within the PP. Following this, the Ministry of the Interior, led by Jorge Fernández Díaz, designs and –according to the Public Prosecutor's account– launches an "illicit police intelligence operation" with the aim of stealing information and evidence from Luis Bárcenas, the former treasurer of the PP, that would incriminate popular leaders in the context of the Gürtel case. The ultimate objective is to "prevent" it from reaching the hands of the investigators. Five years later, that corruption trial ends with the sentence that leads to the motion of no confidence that brings Pedro Sánchez to La Moncloa. And now, thirteen years later, the leadership of the patriotic police sits on the defendants' bench, with "requests for fifteen years in prison by the Public Prosecutor's Office, in a trial that begins on Monday at the National Court and which will have to shed light on the maneuvers of the state's sewers to protect the PP. The main crimes they are accused of are cover-up, embezzlement, bribery, disclosure of secrets, and influence peddling.

Following the National Court's decision to send BBVA, as a legal entity, and its former president Francisco González to trial, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office has made its move, demanding a 173-year prison sentence for the former executive and a fine of over €180 million for the financial institution. This is the prosecution's sentencing request in the espionage case related to the company of former police commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, as stated in the prosecution's indictment. Specifically, González faces a five-year prison sentence for continuous active bribery and an additional 168 years for 42 counts of disclosing and revealing secrets (four years for each count). However, sources within the Public Prosecutor's Office specify that, if convicted, the maximum sentence the former BBVA president would serve is three times the most severe penalty imposed. Regarding the financial penalty for the bank, it amounts to nine million euros for bribery (5,000 euros per day for five years) and 172.8 million euros for 48 counts of disclosing secrets (5,000 euros per day for two years for each count). The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office believes this penalty is warranted for having hired Villarejo between 2004 and 2016. During those years, the bank, then headed by González, contracted Cenyt, the retired police commissioner's company, to spy on the construction company Sacyr.