AN does not give 'El Rata' more time to present his dossier in the investigation into the alleged box b of the PP in Madrid

Points out that undue delay should not be used and that the analysis of the witness can be classified as a prospective investigation

MADRID, 16 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Criminal Chamber of the National Court has dismissed the appeal filed by the Association of Democratic Lawyers for Europe (ADADE) with which they wanted the former mayor of Majadahonda Guillermo Ortega, known as 'El Rata', to have more time to deliver a report within the framework of piece 9 of 'Púnica' regarding the possible existence of a 'caja b' in the PP of Madrid.

ADADE, under whose coordination the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) intervenes in the case, sensed "hurries" in the decision of the investigating judge, Manuel García Castellón, when he established by order that he did not give 'El Rata' more time to deliver that letter from jail, 'dossier' that was related to possible irregularities in the Puerta de Toledo Market.

Now, the Chamber supports García Castellón because it considers that it is not pertinent to continue the proceedings when the investigation of the case ended on January 25, 2022 and taking into account that the witness has already exhausted the deadlines that have been granted for the drafting of that document.

Remember that, by choosing to give Ortega more time to deliver that report, you would be violating the right to a public process without undue delay, and remember that the case has been under investigation for eight years.

On the other hand, the magistrates consider that the preparation of this report from prison by Ortega, having access to documentation that he possesses, could be considered as a prospective investigation with no specific purpose. Add to this, that the document that he could present would also have "a strange procedural fit."

"Consequently, it is unlikely to artificially extend the period for the incorporation (by a witness) of a document that has not yet been prepared, and the instruction cannot be made to depend on the will of said witness," they add.

The Chamber agrees that 'El Rata' "does not enjoy the consideration of an expert, an auditor, or a Forensic expert" who has to analyze the cause to issue an opinion or make some conclusions. And he adds that the alleged reasons for collaboration with justice are "debatable" especially when he has not materialized through his defense an advance of his investigations or an examination of his computer.

The PSOE warned the judge that the report still pending delivery by Ortega was of "vital importance" in the investigation. "According to his statement, the money diverted through IMADE and the companies that depended on it would amount to a whopping one million euros, public money that would be made available to the Popular Party," they pointed out in their appeal.

For this reason, they did not understand the speed that they wanted to "print" from the National Court to the investigation of the case "just in the final stretch." "As the Prosecutor's Office already pointed out in another case, inaction and haste seem to draw red lines that would shield the Popular Party."

For the PSOE, a "more proportional and guarantee" measure towards the rights of the parties was for Judge García Castellón to require Ortega to inform him of the status of his report or, to move forward, to present him with a scheme before making a decision about it.

It was in April 2021 when 'El Rata' reported to the Court "an alleged monetary deviation 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.

These revelations led the judge to open a new room, number 13, to separate it from room 9, but the Criminal Chamber agreed with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and maintained the alleged irregularities in the Puerta de Toledo Market within the investigations. on the alleged illegal financing of the Madrid PP.

A decision by the Criminal Chamber that came at the end of 2021, which led García Castellón to give Ortega that margin so that he could issue a complete report.

On October 14, García Castellón agreed to prosecute a total of eight people: the ex-counselor Francisco Granados and the former manager of the PP in Madrid Beltrán Gutiérrez, whom he leaves as the most responsible for the alleged plot, as well as Alejandro de Pedro, Borja Sarasola, Diego Mora, Francisco Lobo, Isabel Gallego, José Martínez Nicolás and the companies EICO Reputación Management and Madiva Editorial y Publicidad. He thus left out both the former Madrid president Esperanza Aguirre and her successor Ignacio González.

Since 2014, the AN has been investigating this separate piece 9 on the alleged illegal financing of the Madrid PP in the 2007 and 2011 regional elections and the 2008 general elections, as well as the contracts awarded by the Madrid administration and, specifically, reputation contracts 'online' to position senior PP officials on social networks.