Fernández Díaz's defense denies any interest in Bárcenas's documentation and requests his acquittal in the 'Kitchen case'

The defense of former Interior Minister Jorge Fernández Díaz rejected this Wednesday that his client participated in the alleged parapolice operation of the 'Kitchen case', an investigation focused on the alleged obtaining of information from former PP treasurer Luis Bárcenas. During his final report before the Audiencia Nacional, lawyer Jesús Mandri maintained that there is not enough evidence to prove the responsibility of the former popular leader and demanded his acquittal.

Mandri assured that Fernández Díaz "was never interested in Bárcenas' papers" and that any information he might have about leaders of the Popular Party "was exactly the same to him." For this reason, he demanded the acquittal of his client considering that, after the evidence was presented, the commission of none of the crimes attributed to him has been proven.

"An intelligence operation"

The defense also maintained that 'Kitchen' was not a parapolice operation aimed at protecting the Popular Party, but an "intelligence operation" whose objective was to locate the money Bárcenas allegedly kept hidden and identify possible straw men.

Mandri also denied that Fernández Díaz occupied the "apex" of the alleged plot and questioned that the accusation is based on messages attributed to the former minister and protocolized by the former Secretary of State for Security Francisco Martínez, recalling that these messages did not appear on his client's phone, who, he maintained, voluntarily handed over his terminal during the investigation.

The evidence, at the center of the argument

The lawyer dedicated a good part of his intervention to questioning the consistency of the evidence supporting the accusation. In his opinion, none of the elements incorporated into the procedure allows Fernández Díaz to be placed at the head of the alleged operation and, therefore, he rejected the thesis that he directed Kitchen.

In that context, he focused on the agendas of retired commissioner José Manuel Villarejo. Mandri recalled that those same annotations "were not enough to maintain the imputation" of the former general secretary of the PP María Dolores de Cospedal and her then-husband, Ignacio López del Hierro. Based on that precedent, he wondered why these documents are now intended to serve to support the accusation against the former minister. "What are we talking about?" he asked during his report.

The defense also questioned the credibility of businessman Javier Pérez Dolset. Mandri referred to the information published about the meetings he held with former Secretary of State Francisco Martínez and former socialist militant Leire Díez while the procedure was still ongoing, and argued that these circumstances diminish the probative value of his testimony.

Cospedal reappears in the investigation

While Fernández Díaz's defense tries to dismantle the accusation against the former minister, the Audiencia Nacional keeps another line of investigation open related to María Dolores de Cospedal. The former general secretary of the PP, who during the trial testified only as a witness after the decision not to extend the case against her, reappears in the procedure after the decision to review material seized from former commissioner José Manuel Villarejo to determine if it contains relevant elements for the investigation.