The defense of former DAO Eugenio Pino denies the existence of 'Operation Kitchen': "It's an invention"

The trial for the well-known 'Kitchen case' entered a new phase this Thursday with the presentation of the final reports of several of the accused. Among them, the lawyer for the former Deputy Operational Director (DAO) of the National Police, Eugenio Pino, has denied the existence of a parapolice plot to spy on the former PP treasurer Luis Bárcenas and has assured that the so-called 'Operation Kitchen' "does not exist", but rather is "an invention" of the press or of José Manuel Villarejo himself.

Lawyer Jorge Hernansanz has maintained before the National Court that what was actually authorized was "an intelligence operation" whose sole objective was to locate the possible "asset sources" of the former PP treasurer. As he explained, the information that reached the police leadership justified launching this operation to try to identify assets or "possible straw men" linked to Bárcenas.

In this vein, he has argued that the recruitment of former chauffeur Sergio Ríos as an informant and the surveillance carried out on the former treasurer's family environment responded to the need to verify this information. "If the source is not analyzed, not studied, the information is not contrasted, then it would be a crime of concealment," he stated during his report.

Hernansanz has also acknowledged that Eugenio Pino authorized the use of reserved funds to remunerate Bárcenas's former chauffeur, although he has insisted that this decision was adopted within a "legal operation". In his opinion, the accusations confuse an intelligence operation with a police investigation, which is why he has rejected that judicial authorization was necessary to carry out these actions. 

Likewise, he has maintained that the statements made during the trial support this version of events. As he stated, "all the witnesses who have appeared" have agreed that the operation was aimed at locating Bárcenas's asset sources, so, in his opinion, there is no element that allows linking his client to an illicit act. "There is no evidence to support" that participation, he assured, although he admitted that some of those involved may have subsequently deviated from the initial objective.

Finally, the lawyer has requested the acquittal of his client and has asked that court costs be imposed on the private prosecution of the Bárcenas family and on the popular prosecutions exercised by the PSOE and Podemos.

Martín Blas's defense also demands acquittal

The lawyer for the former head of the Internal Affairs Unit of the National Police, Marcelino Martín Blas, has also requested his client's acquittal, arguing that no participation in the so-called 'Operation Kitchen' has been proven during the trial. According to his defense, "there is no document" or any evidence to show that he received or gave orders related to the alleged operation.

During his report, Antonio Alberca assured that the evidence presented went against the accusations and stressed that various testimonies have disassociated Martín Blas from the case. In this context, he recalled that Eugenio Pino himself declared that the former head of Internal Affairs "knew nothing" about the operation, while retired commissioner José Manuel Villarejo stated that he "had no participation".