Aguirre asks the AN to end the "eternal" investigation into 'Púnica' without waiting for the report from 'El Rata'

Warns of a "clamp between the PSOE and Ortega" to delay investigations by private interests

MADRID, 6 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The former president of Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre, has asked the Criminal Chamber of the National Court (AN) to endorse the decision of Judge Manuel García Castellón not to grant more time to the former mayor of Majadahonda, Guillermo Ortega, to provide a report detailing the alleged irregularities that he denounced in the Puerta de Toledo Market, a promise of collaboration that he considers "a joke", for which he claims to end an "eternal" instruction.

In a letter last Monday, to which Europa Press has had access, Aguirre asks the Criminal Chamber to reject the appeals filed by the PSOE and the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, which are interested in extending the term to Ortega, alias 'El Rata', consequently ratifying the order issued on September 9 by the head of the Central Court of Instruction Number 6.

Aguirre's defense, the main accused in this separate piece of the 'Púnica' macro-cause, sees in Ortega's alleged willingness to collaborate with the Justice, delivering new evidence, a "pincer between the PSOE and Ortega", each one for their own interests.

In the case of the popular accusation carried out by the PSOE, he points out that with the continuity of the investigations "he obtains a notable political return (...), using this procedure systematically in his electoral speech".

As for 'El Rata', he affirms that he is "enrolled in a procedural cartel offering evidentiary services in order to obtain procedural or penological advantages", of which others involved in 'Púnica' would also be a part.

However, the lawyer of the former 'popular' leader understands that Ortega's delay in presenting his report is only attributable to his "passivity" as part of a "staging" that "can only be described as teasing" .

In addition, it shows that, if these irregularities were true, "the author of such acts would be none other than himself", since "Ortega had responsibilities in the Puerta de Toledo Market from 2005 to 2009".

"At no time has he been able to testify to the existence of any contract or agreement from which it can be affirmed that there has been a diversion of funds and for this it was enough, if it were true, with his sole memory," he stresses.

Thus, he recalls that Ortega is "a criminal convicted of serious crimes" to more than 30 years in prison who, he emphasizes, seeks prison improvements and for this he undertakes to "provide a deceptive incriminating element" against Aguirre.

However, he criticizes that this separate piece has been completed for more than five months "just waiting for the whim of this subject", of his "imagination", something that he considers "simply unpresentable".

He emphasizes that Ortega "is not an expert or an auditor or a forensic expert who has to analyze the case, or issue an opinion or make conclusions," but only a witness who should be satisfied with "what he has seen and heard."

"The most serious thing is that a person (Aguirre), against whom there are no signs of criminality, is subjected to a procedure that takes years through procedural tricks such as those systematically launched by the PSOE," he concludes.

It was in April 2021 when 'El Rata' reported to the AN "an alleged monetary diversion through the Mercado de Puerta de Toledo company", dependent on the public company IMADE. He pointed to more than a dozen invoices issued between 2006 and 2009 for "apparently fictitious work" -- registered as public relations, maintenance or painting -- for a total of 832,560 euros.

Ortega promised to specify his complaint in a report, for which he was allowed access to his computer in prison so that he could manage the documentation he needed. However, his defense assures that numerous problems, including technical ones, have prevented him from advancing in his work.

García Castellón has refused to continue delaying the deadlines of a separate piece whose investigation formally ended in January 2022. Last July, Anticorruption presented its final report exempting Aguirre from responsibility by not appreciating indications that he was "knowledgeable" of the actions of the 'Punic' plot, despite the fact that --as he stressed-- he had "absolute control" of the regional PP.

Thus, it remains for García Castellón to decide who will be exonerated and who will be prosecuted for the alleged existence of a 'box b' in the Madrid PP that would have served to pay for the electoral campaigns of the political formation during the years 2007, 2008 and 2011 .