Villarejo returns to the Kitchen bench for his meetings with Leire Díez: alleged pact to avoid prison

The trial for the alleged parapolice espionage of the former PP treasurer, Luis Bárcenas, reactivates this Tuesday in the Audiencia Nacional, where one of the main accused, former commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, will have to testify again. In this case, he does so due to the latest information that he carried out “several meetings” with Leire Díez.

Investigators maintain that Villarejo held several meetings with Díez during the summer of 2024 and that she would have proposed an agreement with the Prosecutor's Office to avoid his imprisonment in exchange for compromising information about judge Manuel Marchena, members of the leadership of the Rajoy Government and even the current leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo.

The investigation has also allowed to collect messages in which Villarejo's lawyer reported the Prosecutor's Office's refusal to close a pact. The lawyer, Antonio García Cabrera, will appear as a witness before judge Santiago Pedraz on July 8.

The summary of the 'Leire Díez case' places former socialist militant Leire Díez and former PSOE Organization Secretary, Santos Cerdán, at the center of an alleged operation aimed at obtaining sensitive information and acting on judicial investigations affecting the PSOE, the Government and the environment of President Pedro Sánchez. The investigation by the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard points to the existence of a network of contacts and intermediaries who would have tried to gather compromising data about investigators, prosecutors and other people linked to different cases that affect the PSOE.

The 'Kitchen case' investigates the alleged operation that was forged thanks to the collaboration of the main figure of the 'Kitchen', former commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, who is allegedly in charge of contacting Bárcenas' driver, Sergio Ríos, nicknamed the "chef", to monitor the former treasurer's family, tap conversations, follow movements and deliver documents and recordings that Bárcenas kept in a workshop that could harm the PP. The summary includes a total of 53,266 euros from reserved funds of the Ministry of the Interior that were diverted to the monthly payment of 2,000 euros to Ríos.

The former commissioner would face 19 years in prison for criminal organization, embezzlement and revelation of secrets. Investigators believe that he recruited the driver Sergio Ríos, broke into Bárcenas' workshop and coordinated surveillance and tapping of the former treasurer's conversations.