The Criminal Chamber of the National Court (A) accepted that Mariano Rajoy, former president of the government, Maria Dolores de Cospedal, former secretary general of the PP, or Juan Ignacio Zoido, former interior minister, will testify at the trial to be held for what is called Operation Kitchen. This is what the popular accusations made by the PSOE and Podemos affirm. National Court accepted virtually all of the testimony offered by the parties, as announced in an order on Wednesday.
He PSOE In his indictment, he requested testimony from more than 50 people, including Rajoy, Cospedal, Zoïdo, Juan Ignacio Cosidó, former director general of the National Police, or Enrique López, councilor of the Community of Madrid. Podemos has also requested this statement as a witness of Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, former vice-president of the government.
However, the National Court refused to demand that the Interior Ministry prepare a report detailing the total cost of the project. Operation Kitchen, “determine the economic damages and the losses caused to the public treasury”, as requested by the prosecution PSOE.
The Criminal Chamber justifies this refusal by the fact that “it is an investigative procedure more typical of the now closed investigative phase, without this court having to implement it because it exceeds its powers, in addition to being useless and useless for the purposes pursued.” , and the action must be followed. Regarding the start of the trial, the National Court warns that, “due to the saturation of the plenary sessions currently available to this court”, it cannot currently summon the parties for any date.
The investigating judge Manuel Garcia Castellon Last October, he agreed to open the oral trial against Jorge Fernández Díaz, former Minister of the Interior, and former head of the Ministry of the Interior for the Operation Kitchen, the alleged parapolice operation launched with the aim of removing from Luis Bárcenas, former treasurer of the PP, elements related to the judicial investigation into the conspiracy Belt.
In addition to the former Interior Minister, the judge referred to trial his former Secretary of State Francisco Martínez, who was Deputy Director of Operations (DAO) Eugenio Pino, the police officers José Luis Olivera, Marcelino Martín Blas, José Ángel Fuentes Gago, Bonifacio Díez Sevillano, Enrique García Castaño, Andrés Manuel Gómez Gordo, the retired commissioner and main investigator in the José Manuel Villarejo case and the former Barcelona driver Sergio Ríos Esgueva.
However, regarding the former head of the Central Operational Support Unit (UCAO) of the National Police Enrique García Castaño, the National Court excluded him from the list of accused because “he had already been excluded from the proceedings during the investigation phase, due to his proven serious mental and physical suffering.”
