In July 2020, the main leaders of the party founded by Pablo Iglesias could not imagine that an internal conflict in the legal department of Podemos would end with an open macro-cause against the party and several of its leaders, trying to splash Iglesias himself and the minister. of Equality, Irene Montero.
The confrontation in question ended with a fired lawyer. José Manuel Calvente went to the Barcelona Civil Guard headquarters to denounce alleged corruption within the party. Sources familiar with the facts regret that the lawyer allowed himself to be guided by people who wanted to harm the party.
The matter ended in the Madrid courts of Plaza de Castilla. A judge, Juan José Escalonilla, listened to Calvente and gave him credibility. From there began the statements, interrogations and accusations. More complainants appeared, former party workers, and a Montero adviser was investigated for allegedly taking care of her children instead of doing the work corresponding to her position.
Up to eight pieces have been opened by the judge throughout these almost eight years, of which seven are already archived. Only one remains open, for payments to a Mexican company, Neurona, to run the 2019 electoral campaign.
The instructor has inquired about the irregularity by the party's solidarity fund, the salary supplements, the alleged non-consensual access to the hard drive of one of the party's lawyers, the alleged irregular bidding for the works of the training headquarters, the hiring of the consultancy ABD for electoral services, the Impulsa project, the case of the 'nanny' in addition to fringes on the 25-M Foundation, without being able to find indications to continue with the investigations.
The instruction is finalized pending a controversial expert report for which it has taken more than a year to find an expert to do so. The object is to know if the amount paid to Neurona is within the market price.
From the beginning, the Prosecutor's Office expressed its doubts about this macro-cause and although it has stopped investigating, it has been supporting the requests to file each of the pieces. Now he is waiting for the expert to arrive, although it has been more than a year since he announced that the political formation "can hire the providers it deems appropriate and it is possible that the cost cannot be reliably determined."
In this piece there are two aspects within the electoral crime. On the one hand, the simulation of the contract, that is, that the work was never carried out. And on the other hand, the distraction of money, which means that the price was inflated. Regarding the first, the prosecutor considers that there is sufficient evidence, although there are certain discrepancies, to certify that Neurona did do the work. And regarding the second, she has already said that it is very difficult to quantify if the amount was inflamed when there is a free market in this regard.
In the current scenario, the case is finished only pending the expert report; Podemos maintains the condition of being investigated in the meantime and one of the founders, Juan Carlos Monedero, is waiting for the judge to rule on his request for dismissal.
Monedero considers that it has been demonstrated in the case that he did not falsify the invoice for the work he carried out for Neurona as a consultant for which he has been under investigation for more than two years.
"It is clarified that the payment in question could not be an intermediation, since on the date the invoice was drafted, the holding of general elections was not even planned," says his defense in the filing request document.
