Cospedal on pressure on Bárcenas or his lawyer for Gürtel: "I don't think I have ever spoken about that issue" with Villarejo

MADRID, 1 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The former general secretary of the PP María Dolores de Cospedal pointed out before the judge of the National Court Manuel García Castellón that, although she met on "several occasions" - "seven, eight or nine" - with the retired commissioner José Manuel Villarejo at the PP headquarters located on Génova Street because "he supposedly had knowledge of acts that were carried out against the Popular Party by the then Government", he specified that he did not remember having spoken with him about matters related to the defense of the party's former treasurer. Luis Bárcenas for the 'Gürtel' plot: "I don't think I have ever talked about that topic with the person you told me about."

This is reflected in the audio, to which Europa Press has had access, of Cospedal's appearance before the judge of the National Court who is investigating these alleged pressures on Bárcenas and his lawyer, Javier Gómez de Liaño, to prevent published information about the PP linked to the 'Gürtel' plot.

The interrogation of Cospedal as a witness held last Tuesday, November 28, which lasted for 22 minutes and in which questions were asked by both Gómez de Liaño and the Prosecutor's Office and the popular accusation of Adade, began with the former secretary general of the PP saying that he did not know "very well" why he had been summoned.

Given Cospedal's ignorance of the case, Gómez de Liaño explained that there were audio files sent to his email address in which José Luis Moreno Cela, Mónica Gil Manzano - known as the 'Jet Set scammer' - - and Juan Ramón Díaz Moro spoke of alleged illegal payments received by Liaño himself in Switzerland from a client who was the leader of the Russian mafia, Zakhar Kalashov. And that in those same conversations the three talked about the fact that the operation to obtain negative information from Bárcenas' lawyer was sponsored by a PP 'lobby' to harm their defense in the 'Gürtel' case.

Given this, Cospedal said he did not know those three people -- "at all, I don't know who they are (...), the matter is not familiar to me" -- and, although he acknowledged his meetings with Villarejo, already known for his appearance in the 'Operation Kitchen' investigation, he noted that he did not discuss Bárcenas' defense with the commissioner. "But I can't be completely sure, you understand it's been many years, but I don't think it ever was because it had nothing to do with it," he said.

In turn, Gómez de Liaño also asked him about his relationship with the lawyer Javier Iglesias, and Cospedal confirmed that he had up to three meetings with him when he was defending the former treasurer of the PP Álvaro Lapuerta, but he was blunt in his negative response when asked. by the supposed State lawyer on leave who would have been part of or directed that supposed 'lobby' of the party to which they referred in the recordings.

Gómez de Liaño expressed her surprise at this response given her status as a lawyer for the State of Cospedal, but she indicated that there are more than 500 people on the staff of that legal body. "No, I don't know if that man is a state lawyer --Alejandro Lorenzo--, I don't know him and I have never heard of him," she said.

After Gómez de Liaño, Cospedal was succinctly questioned by the prosecutor, who insisted that he had no knowledge of this investigation regarding the fees received by Bárcenas's defense from Kalashov. "I know these facts at this time," she stated.

The popular accusation, in turn, reminded her that during her time as general secretary of the party from 2008 to 2016 "the years of greatest activity of the investigations known as Gürtel" took place, and asked her if they did not follow up on the matter.

To this, Cospedal responded that "of course he followed up" but of what corresponded to him. "And in the area of ​​knowing what could affect the PP, but I couldn't know everything, of course, I didn't know all these people who asked me, I can't tell you if perhaps 10 years ago there was a situation in front of me. conversation," he added.

After this, the prosecution asked him if a change in Luis Bárcenas' defense at that stage would not have affected the PP, and he insisted that he did not remember. And, after being asked who was paying for Bárcenas' defense, Judge Manuel García Castellón intervened when Cospedal began his response by saying "I imagine" to emphasize that he should not imagine anything but remember, to which the former general secretary added: " Well, I don't remember." After that conversation, the prosecution lawyer indicated that she would not ask any more questions "because there is no memory," and the magistrate concluded the interrogation.

It should be remembered that, one day before Cospedal's statement, Villarejo suggested that he "probably" informed Cospedal about the investigation he carried out into alleged payments from Russian mafia leader Zakhar Kalashov to Gómez de Liaño.

The present piece of the 'Tandem' macro case was opened as a result of the inhibition of the Investigating Court 2 of Marbella agreed upon after proceedings in which the entry and search of the home of Halit Sahitaj and Jana Kleiner had been ordered. Sahitaj, according to legal sources consulted, was a kind of mediator who had a connection with the leader of the Russian mafia Zakhar Kalashov.

After said entry and registration, the researchers had access to an email address containing four audio files that, on October 20, 2014, were sent from the email address corresponding to the lawyer's professional office. Javier Gómez de Liaño.

These audio files "would reveal in an indicative manner, an order carried out by third parties linked to the Popular Party in order to obtain, through pressure on Luis Bárcenas and his lawyer at the time in the summary known as 'Gürtel', Javier Gómez de Liaño, that compromising or damaging information for the Popular Party linked to said summary would not come to light", according to the order of the Malaga court that investigated the matter before inhibiting itself.