This Monday, the National Court continues with the trial for the Kitchen, an alleged police operation that aimed to monitor Luis Bárcenas, former treasurer of the Popular Party, and to steal key documentation related to the Gürtel trial.
Ultimately, it is being judged whether or not there were orchestrated maneuvers from the Ministry of Interior during Rajoy's era to hinder the judicial investigation about Génova's slush fund.
Ten are the accused, among whom are Jorge Fernández Díaz, former Minister of the Interior with Mariano Rajoy, and Francisco Martínez, former Secretary of State, who face 15 years in prison.
Also on the bench is José Manuel Villarejo, the former commissioner. All of them raised as preliminary issues the nullity of the procedure for various reasons, such as the lack of veracity of Villarejo's audios (fundamental evidence in this trial), the unjustified prolongation of the secrecy of the investigation or the lack of competence of the court.
However, who does not appear with the status of accused is María Dolores de Cospedal, former general secretary of the Popular Party, and today we tell you why.
Why will Cospedal not be judged?
The investigation of this case considered the investigation of Cospedal, something that was finally rejected, all due to her alleged link with the police operation being prosecuted today. Furthermore, the PSOE, as popular prosecution in the Kitchen case, proposed that evidence audios that would link her to said operation be included.
It is about recordings made by Villarejo in which the former popular general secretary spoke of Bárcenas's “little notebook” and that supposedly would reflect the party's B accounting. In short, Cospedal will only be heard in the National Court as a witness.
What will happen in the coming weeks?
It will be three long months of trial in which police officers, notaries, and politicians, among others, will be heard. There are two key dates: on April 20th, Luis Bárcenas, Rosalía Iglesias Villar —his wife— and who was chief inspector of the UDEF during the Gürtel case, Manuel Morocho, will testify as witnesses.
Another of the highlighted dates is April 23, the day on which we will hear the witnesses Juan Ignacio Zoido, former Minister of the Interior; the former President of the Government Mariano Rajoy; and María Dolores de Cospedal.
Let us remember that all of them have the obligation to tell the truth and that their testimony is a fundamental piece of evidence to ascertain if that alleged maneuver orchestrated from the Ministry of the Interior against Bárcenas existed.
Days loaded with judicial appointments
Next week, the Kitchen trial coincides with that of the mask case in the Supreme Court. Monday's media focus will also be on the testimonies of other individuals investigated by the National Court, among them:
Claudio Rivas, who was a partner of Víctor de Aldama and who, according to the Prosecutor's Office, bought a house for former minister Ábalos with the aim of obtaining a hydrocarbon license; Patricia Uriz, wife of Koldo García, who may have facilitated the money laundering of the plot's money; and Javier Herrero, former Director of Roads, who may have collected kickbacks in exchange for facilitating public contracts by direct award.
Two trials that put former ministers of the PP and the PSOE on the dock and that deserve a reflection by our leaders because honesty is fundamental so that the citizenry does not lose confidence in the institutions.
