The former general secretary of the Popular Party, María Dolores de Cospedal, would have worked hard during the first half of 2013 to protect her political formation from what are known as the Bárcenas papers, which revealed accounting parallel to the official one (box b ) in the conservative party and the payment of bonuses in black to part of the leadership of the party, according to some recordings published this Monday by the newspaper El País.
In these audios, which are part of the material seized by the police in the home and companies of former commissioner José Manuel Villarejo in the framework of the Tándem operation that ended with his arrest, the former agent and the former popular leader speak on the phone and make reference to what would later be known as the papers of Bárcenas, then treasurer of the party. In fact, what Cospedal is trying to do with his conversation with Villarejo is to stop the publication of Bárcenas' "little notebook".
Regarding the dates, the information is based on two conversations between Bárcenas and Cospedal separated by about four months. The first call referred to took place on January 20, 2013, just over a week before El País published the first leaks of the Bárcenas papers. Cospedal goes to Villarejo, his "police ally", to try to prevent that information from seeing the light or, failing that, that the names of the beneficiaries of box B and, above all, those of the most important positions do not come out of the Popular Party of that time.
"Hey, and the famous little notebook, do you think they'll take it out?" Cospedal asks the then police officer, who replies: "I, the little notebook... he hasn't told me... I've talked to both of you about this ...
Cospedal continues: "It is that Inda is telling whoever wants to hear it", and Villarejo replies: "Yes, but to me the famous little notebook that he says is so, what he has told me is that he has photocopies of some sheets that the other has taught him, that he hasn't even given it to him, the lawyer. That is, he doesn't have the little notebook physically, eh? Not even Inda, I think, from what he has told me. goes around telling things? It's just that he's a big mouth."
The former general secretary of the PP wanted to know if El Mundo, which days before had published that Bárcenas had paid bonuses in black to several party leaders, had the papers that accredited it and if it had a list of the alleged beneficiaries.
Then Villarejo assures Cospedal that it is necessary to try to "anticipate the move", to which she nods: "It is the most important thing". The former commissioner explains that he is trying to "intoxicate", "haze" or "eat the jar" of the journalists Inda and Esteban who, as he explains, wanted to make a list at the beginning in which "the president was", alluding to Mariano Rajoy. "You put out a list like that and the next day they have a lawsuit, eh?" Warns the former Defense Minister.
Later, in the conversation, the former popular leader takes up the issue of the "little book" and makes the specific request to Villarejo. "That's why I'm calling you. The little notebook... it would be better if we could stop it," she tells him. The then policeman tries to reassure him: "Don't worry, I'm going to be on the alert with this and I'm going to do everything possible these days to make me run into them much more."
In the intervened call he also alludes to how the moment of the publication disrupts his government plans, especially regarding Catalonia. It is in reference to a police report without signature or recipient in which corruption of the main pro-independence leaders was reported. This document was allegedly the government's response to the beginning of the sovereignist challenge, then with Artur Mas at the head, and which was affected by these leaks, in the same way as former president Jordi Pujol. Cospedal speaks of "meanness" for taking out Bárcenas' papers at that time, since she was convinced that she was going to cover up, at the media level, Catalan corruption. "It seems that they have made a pact with CiU," Cospedal said in this regard.
The second recorded conversation dates from April 16, a few months later than the first and after the publication of part of the Bárcenas papers. The objective is none other than to torpedo the judicial processes that have stalked the popular since the party's 'box b' and the bonuses received by the party's senior officials became public domain.
Villarejo told Cospedal that together with José Luis Olivera, former Chief Commissioner of the UDEF and a person very close to Villarejo himself, they are trying to put pressure on the police inspector Manuel Morocho, who was the person in charge and ultimately responsible for preparing the report that the forces of State security should send it to the judges in charge of investigating the case. They do it to seek to "convince you to remove the most important thing". He exclaims that in that report was "even the name of the Prime Minister."
Inspector Manuel Morocho was in charge of the team that made said report, and they forced him to "devalue those papers", as he finally denounced to the judge in 2021. He assures that he was "commanded" to say "that they were untrue ", that they seemed "thing of Bárcenas" and "not of the party". In short, to muddy the papers so that the connection between these diversions of money and the popular leaders who benefited for years could not be found, or above all proven.
The information provided by these audios concludes with a conversation about the solution that Villarejo believed was perfect to solve the problems that the report could cause them. He is outraged, assuring that "there was a tremendous opportunity" getting the two police officers closest to Morocho promoted and the latter could write the report with the help of people he trusts, without the risk of leaks. "And it's a way of not letting go of a guy, promoting him, damn it!" Villarejo reflects.
However, these plans were cut short, since for these two people to achieve promotion to work together with Morocho, they had to pass an exam that is only held once a year, according to the audios, and which they failed. "It's just that it's a thing..." the former commissioner is outraged in the audios.
The investigation of the case culminated eight years later, in 2021, with the irregular financing of the popular ones as more than proven, with their "parallel accounting". However, the matter of the bonuses did not find a judicial course.
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