Judge Santiago Pedraz, the investigating magistrate of the National Court, has rejected the attempt by Francisco Martínez, Secretary of State for Security in Mariano Rajoy’s government, to close the investigation initiated in February to inquire about the alleged dirty war against Podemos orchestrated by the PP government between 2015 and 2016. The judge dismissed the appeal filed by Martínez, who sought to have Pedraz reverse the opening of the case and not admit the complaint filed by the party of Ione Belarra. Francisco Martínez, who was a close aide to former Minister Jorge Fernández Díaz and is also accused in the Kitchen case, is the highest-ranking political figure implicated in these investigations so far. For a long time, Podemos has been trying to push forward this investigation into the maneuvers within the National Police and the Ministry of the Interior during Fernández Díaz’s time, when a group of officers (popularly known as the patriotic police) allegedly operated to harm political rivals of the PP. In their complaint, Belarra’s party stated that a group of commissioners, under the leadership of the then Secretary of State for Security, “were conducting prospective and unrelated police investigations” into the leaders of Podemos, without the supervision of a judge or the Prosecutor’s Office. According to Podemos, they would then inform Fernández Díaz about all this, and the modus operandi included the subsequent leak of information with false data to the media — which would publish them citing “police sources” — in order to discredit the political party in the eyes of the public.
After months of fighting to get a case opened, Pedraz admitted the complaint on February 22. The judge gave the green light to investigate the alleged involvement of Francisco Martínez; Eugenio Pino, former Deputy Director of the National Police (the highest operational chief); three commissioners (Andrés Gómez Gordo, Enrique García Castaño, and Germán Rodríguez Castiñeira); and a chief inspector, José Ángel Fuentes Gago. Five of these defendants (Martínez, Pino, Gómez Gordo, García Castaño, and Fuentes Gago) are also being prosecuted in the National Court for another irregular operation: the Kitchen case, a para-police operation activated in 2013 to spy on former Popular Party treasurer Luis Bárcenas and allegedly take compromising documents about PP leaders, then cornered by the Gürtel corruption case. The National Court’s decision to finally admit Podemos’ complaint prompted an immediate response from Francisco Martínez’s defense. The former Secretary of State’s lawyers filed an appeal to request the dismissal of the proceedings. In that document, they also accused Belarra’s party of committing crimes of discovering and disclosing secrets by maintaining their complaint, based on, among other evidence, a series of chats extracted from Martinez’s phone, which were listed in the Kitchen case file. Therefore, the representatives of the former PP official also requested that a “statement be taken” to investigate Podemos for using those phone conversations. However, Santiago Pedraz rejects both claims. The judge emphasizes that the complaint meets the “requirements” necessary to be admitted for processing; and he points out that, for now, there is no documentation in the case proving that the complaint is based on “illicit” evidence. In addition, Pedraz rules out taking action to investigate Podemos for using those chats.
Podemos’ complaint was filed, among others, for alleged crimes of criminal organization, embezzlement and disclosure of secrets, administrative prevarication, and falsification of documents. Among the false evidence manufactured against the party is the so-called PISA report (acronym for Pablo Iglesias SA), an unsigned police document from any unit of the Corps, which claimed that Iran had financed the party. Or the leakage of a “falsified” document accusing Pablo Iglesias of receiving $275,000 from the Venezuelan regime in 2014 through an account in his name at the Europe Pacific Bank, in the tax haven of the Grenadines Islands. As reported by EL PAÍS, at least eight witnesses point to the patriotic police of the PP government behind the dirty war against the political party. In another ruling dated last Friday, Santiago Pedraz has decided to impose a bail of 2,000 euros on the PSOE to allow its participation as a popular accuser. The judge had already agreed in March to allow their presence in the case but, following a appeal by Francisco Martínez and after consulting the Prosecutor’s Office, the judge has finally decided to demand 2,000 euros from the Socialists — a figure proposed by the public ministry. The former Secretary of State for Security not only appealed the PSOE’s involvement in the case but also that of Pablo Iglesias, former Secretary-General of Podemos and former Vice President of the Government. However, in this case, Pedraz has rejected all of Martínez’s requests and considers it “appropriate” for the former political leader to continue as a private accuser in the case (without requiring a bail). The judge emphasizes that “the crime under investigation affects Iglesias.”
