The magistrate Manuel García-Castellón, instructor of the National Court, has closed the investigation against Francisco Martínez, former Secretary of State for Security during the government of Mariano Rajoy (PP), and Eugenio Pino, former chief of police at that time, regarding alleged maneuvers carried out a decade ago to pressure one of the first lawyers of Luis Bárcenas, Javier Gómez de Liaño. The judge considers that there is not enough evidence connecting the two former high-ranking officials to a supposed operation activated to “disturb or influence the professional actions of Gómez de Liaño in his capacity as lawyer” for the former Popular Party treasurer, with the aim of preventing Bárcenas from revealing information when the conservative party was besieged by the Gürtel case.
Within the Villarejo case, the National Court has launched two parallel investigations into the maneuvers orchestrated against Bárcenas between 2013 and 2014. On one hand, García-Castellón has charged 11 people for the so-called Kitchen Operation, consisting of a para-police operation organized from 2013 within the Ministry of the Interior to allegedly steal sensitive documentation from the former treasurer that could implicate high-ranking officials of the PP. In this instance, the case has progressed against Martínez and Pino, who are formally accused by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, which is seeking 15-year prison sentences for them.
However, on the other hand, the judge opened a second investigation (known as Piece 36), which focused on the alleged pressures on Gómez de Liaño, and has now closed it. The origin of this complex case lies in the notebooks of commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, who was involved in the Kitchen Operation. When reviewing his notebooks, investigators found notes indicating that he collected information about Bárcenas’ lawyer and contacted third parties who allegedly had previous relationships with him. Gómez de Liaño had defended the leader of the Russian mafia Zakhar Kalashov, and the police officer was trying to determine if the lawyer had received irregular payments from his client.
This line of investigation did not progress. The judge acknowledges that there are indications that Villarejo made “efforts” to obtain information about the lawyer, but adds that there is no evidence that this initiative constituted the “commission of a crime” and it has not been proven that obtaining that data was related to Gómez de Liaño’s role as Bárcenas’ lawyer. During his interrogation as an accused, Francisco Martínez denied having maneuvered to pressure the former PP treasurer’s lawyer. María Dolores de Cospedal, the former secretary general of the PP who testified as a witness, also distanced herself from the events, stating, “I do not know the facts,” to the judge.
