Ignacio López del Hierro, husband of María Dolores de Cospedal during the deployment of Operation Kitchen and witness number 43 in the trial on the espionage of Luis Bárcenas, wants to testify this Tuesday. He makes it clear despite the court president, Teresa Palacios, insisting that, as he was charged during the investigation, he can exercise his right not to answer questions that implicate him and, even, that he can return another day accompanied by a lawyer. López del Hierro, a businessman and long-time friend of the shady commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, emphasizes that he will “go ahead” with his appearance. Although this will not bring any surprises. “I don’t remember,” has been one of his most repeated answers.
Read more Paul Seixas wins the Flèche Wallonne at 19, the youngest in history
Amnesia has spread this Tuesday among the witnesses linked to the PP who have testified in the trial. López del Hierro has resorted to many “I don’t remember,” “I’m not aware,” and “I don’t know” to evade the questions posed to him. Arturo González Panero, former popular mayor, has also stated that he has forgotten the details linking him to the summary of the Kitchen case. And all this while, furthermore, the court has strived to limit questions about the former secretary general of the conservatives, María Dolores de Cospedal, and about the party itself: “The PP is not being tried here,” warned Judge Palacios, before the interrogation by the PSOE, appearing as a popular prosecution.
Villarejo maintained a regular relationship with López del Hierro and his then-wife, as evidenced by the audios secretly recorded by the commissioner and his diaries. In one of the few answers he offered, Cospedal’s ex-husband recounted that he himself introduced them. He arranged a meeting for them at the PP headquarters on Génova Street: “I know Villarejo was interested. My wife, too. And I introduced them. And in that meeting, he explained what he wanted to tell her, and my wife explained her concerns to him.”
—With what objective? —they insisted.
—I don’t know.
—What did Villarejo tell him?
—I don’t remember what was discussed in the meeting. I remember something related to Rita Barberá because my wife was a very good friend of Barberá.
From that moment on, López del Hierro offered very few further details. He asserted that he was “not aware” that Cospedal had more meetings with Villarejo; despite her admitting it during the investigation. He pointed out that Villarejo never spoke to him about Commissioner Andrés Gómez Gordo, former advisor to the former PP leader and accused in Kitchen; despite an Internal Affairs report highlighting a phone message the commissioner sent to Del Hierro in the midst of the Bárcenas espionage operation, which reads: “Everything has improved quite a bit. Andi. Very good today. Hugs.” Andi was one of the nicknames used by Villarejo to refer to Gómez Gordo. “I don’t remember that message,” the witness then concluded, adding that he also didn’t remember Villarejo giving him details about Gürtel; despite the summary indicating that he provided the couple with secret data from the case.
The accusations maintain that Kitchen was activated in 2013 within the Ministry of Interior and the National Police with the aim of stealing “compromising” papers that the former treasurer might still have about high-ranking PP officials, thus preventing them from reaching the investigators of the Gürtel case, which was closing in on the popular party.
Read more Zelensky awards Margarita Robles “for the support and commitment” of the Government with Ukraine
“Artur: Storm warning”
The parade of witnesses in this Tuesday’s session —the eighth of the trial— began with Arturo González Panero, alias El Albondiguilla, who was mayor of Boadilla del Monte (Madrid) for the PP and sentenced to almost 40 years in prison for his involvement in the Gürtel case. In José Manuel Villarejo’s diaries, there is an entry from February 5, 2009, next to the mayor’s name, referring to an alleged tip-off the commissioner gave him one day before the police operation against the plot led by businessman Francisco Correa, which nested within the conservative party, exploded. “Artur: Storm warning,” Villarejo noted.
To questions from the PSOE lawyer, acting as popular prosecution, Panero told the court that he doesn’t remember anything from that day: “I don’t remember February 5, 2009, it’s been 17 years,” the witness excused himself, adding: “I am aware that there was some investigation against Mr. Correa, but not that there was anything against me […] For me, it was a complete surprise when what happened, happened.” However, in the summer of 2021, he confirmed that conversation with Villarejo in an interview with La Razón: “He told me that, indeed, this operation [Gürtel] was being prepared. He told me that here in Boadilla del Monte we had little to fear, that there would be arrests and the day they would be. He conveyed to me that in Majadahonda there was a storm, as if it were something big, and in Boadilla, a drizzle. He called me on the phone and informed me that these things would happen. I don’t know if it was a day before or a few days before, he called me and told me,” assured the former mayor, who added that he did not warn “anyone.”
“I will not answer”
—Do you know Villarejo?
—I will not answer that question due to professional secrecy.
With these words, lawyer Javier Iglesias, linked to the PP, tried to avoid being interrogated by the parties this Tuesday. The lawyer appeared as a witness after Bárcenas pointed the finger at him on Monday. The former treasurer recounted that Iglesias visited him in Soto del Real prison (Madrid) in the summer of 2013, shortly after entering pre-trial detention, and even tried to buy him off. “He came to threaten me that if I testified as I did, my wife would go to prison […] Before, in February 2013, I had a meeting in his office, where he proposed to me, since the papers had been published by EL PAÍS, that I modify the papers, change the concepts and quantities with the same handwriting and format, to give to the press and create uncertainty about which of the papers were true.” In return, according to Bárcenas, he offered him 500,000 euros.
“The conversations I have had in the exercise of my profession are professional secret,” Iglesias alleged to try to avoid being questioned. “I understand that the law protects me. I have been the lawyer for Mr. Villarejo’s wife. And Villarejo is a practicing lawyer, and any conversation I have had with a practicing lawyer, or any fact or news I have had with a lawyer, is secret,” the lawyer reiterated. Given his excuses, the court decided to suspend his testimony and, as announced, will study whether to summon him another day or exempt him.
Read more Germany avoids speculating about the merger between Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile
