Mariano Rajoy has returned this Monday to Congress to testify in the investigation commission on the ‘kitchen operation’, in which the Ministry of the Interior was allegedly used to steal compromising information for the PP from Luis Bárcenas. The former president has entered the chamber of the Chamber accompanied by his former minister Ana Pastor; the current spokesperson of the parliamentary group, Cuca Gamarra, and the person in charge of Participation of the PP, Jaime de Olano.
The first spokesperson to question Rajoy was Felipe Sicilia, a PSOE deputy. The confrontation has been rough, with several calls to order from the president of the commission, Isaura Leal, also a socialist. The former chief executive has denied ever having knowledge of this alleged operation carried out with members of the State security forces and bodies, has assured that he has never discussed this matter with his former secretary general in the PP, María Dolores de Cospedal, and has defended the innocence of the former Minister of the Interior Jorge Fernández Díaz.
Rajoy has made these statements despite the fact that there are audios revealed in 2018 in which the content of a meeting of Cospedal with former commissioner José Manuel is heard Villarejo, aware of the ‘kitchen’, and also after Fernández Díaz himself implicitly pointed to the former president himself as responsible for that para-police operation. The former minister filed an appeal against the “hasty” decision of Judge Manuel García-Castellón to conclude the investigation and considered it “simplistic and easy to encapsulate” the responsibilities of the ‘kitchen’ only in the Ministry of the Interior.
The former president also wanted to make it clear that, despite what Villarejo himself said, he has never seen it. “I do not know Mr. VIllarejo and I do not even know that I have seen him anywhere. I never met with Mr. Villarejo. I never spoke to him; I am not aware that he has sent me any message and I have never sent him a message in my life, “he said.
“The Lord [Luis] Bárcenas and the lord [José Manuel] Villarejo has serious problems in the courts and They defend themselves as they deem appropriate and convenient and, as they have the right to lie, they say what they want, “he replied.
The matter is currently being investigated by the National Court. The judge has closed the investigation although the decision is not final as it has been appealed. For now, former Minister Fernández Díaz and his Secretary of State at the time, Francisco Martínez, have been prosecuted.
Related news
Rajoy’s statement puts the final touch on a commission that began on March 17 and through which almost forty appearing parties have passed, including Bárcenas, and also former leaders such as the former secretary general of the PP María Dolores de Cospedal, the former minister of the Interior Jorge Fernández Díaz and his number two Francisco Martínez, both processed in the National Court.
After Rajoy, the commission will close its doors and the groups will have a period to present their conclusions and try to agree on an opinion before the end of the year. Predictably and already in 2022, that opinion will be raised to the plenary session of Congress for ratification.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com