Retired commissioner José Manuel Villarejo achieved his second victory at the National Tribunal. The former police officer, epicenter of one of the largest corruption schemes in Spain’s recent history and already sentenced to sentences totaling 24 years in prison, was acquitted in the fifth trial which brought him to the dock in this court. The judges believe that it is not proven that the agent participated in an espionage assignment received by his business group in 2015, which involved the collection of confidential data from a businessman from Marbella (Málaga). This exculpatory resolution adds to a similar one from just two weeks ago.
The ruling of the National Court explains that a resident of Marbella, Marzena Katarzyna Nikiel, contacted the lawyer Rafael Redondo, Villarejo’s collaborator, who practiced at the Stuart & Mckenzie firm, belonging to the commissioner’s group of companies, in 2015. The woman wanted help to resolve a conflict she had with a businessman from the Costa del Sol city. As demonstrated by the court, the conspiracy then used several police officers to, taking advantage of their status as officers of the Corps, access the confidential data of the Marbella businessman; who sent a third inactive agent (Antonio Bonilla); who, in turn, forwarded them e-mail that Rafael Redondo had in Cenyt, another commercial company in Villarejo.
Despite declaring the extraction of sensitive information into the hands of Villarejo’s group to be proven, the magistrates of the Fourth Section of the Criminal Chamber conclude that insufficient evidence was provided to prove their involvement. For this reason he was acquitted of the crimes of corruption and revealing secrets. The Prosecutor’s Office requested nine years’ imprisonment for the commissioner.
On the other hand, the court sentences police officers Constancio Riaño and Antonio Bonilla to one year in prison for participating in this data mining. For his part, Rafael Redondo was excluded from the trial due to illness and has not yet been tried for these facts.
Him The Villarejo casewhich broke out in 2017, constitutes a twisted mess with dozens of lines of investigation. The Court has already held five trials against the retired commissioner: three ended in prison sentences and two in acquittal. For the first (focused on espionage projects on behalf of companies and private individuals called Iron, Land and Pintor) an initial sentence of 19 years in prison was imposed, reduced last September to 13 years in prison. The court also sentenced him to three years and one day in prison for carrying out an espionage assignment for Grupo Planeta in 2014; and another eight years for espionage on behalf of Repsol and Caixabank. The fourth trial, where he was acquitted, concerned Project Saving, an espionage commission financed in 2011 by the late businessman José Moya, former president of the Persán company.
