Former Minister Jorge Fernández Díaz directed Operation Catalonia against Pujol

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Full audio of chapter 7 of The Secret Audios of Corruption

Jorge Fernández Díaz, Minister of the Interior in the first Government of Mariano Rajoy (2012-2016), personally directed a part of the

in the so-called Operation Catalonia to denounce Catalan independence leaders for corruption as a strategy aimed at curbing the disruptive challenge , as can be deduced from a recording to which EL PAÍS and the digital newspaper

have had access .

The recording includes a meeting held in the Interior on Friday, December 16, 2012 between Minister Fernández Díaz,

of the Police, Eugenio Pino, and Commissioner José Manuel Villarejo.

The

worked under the orders of the Government of Mariano Rajoy to look for dirty rags from the political opponents of the PP, filter them to certain media or prosecute them with complaints before the courts.

Its main victims were the Catalan separatists and the leaders of the Podemos political party, according to an investigative commission created in the Congress of Deputies.

Fernández Díaz declared in that commission that he barely crossed paths with Villarejo "two words, thank God."

And he added: "During the almost five years in which I have exercised the responsibility of Minister of the Interior, I have never dispatched anything with Mr. Villarejo."

The recording that EL PAÍS reproduces today shows the opposite.

The appointment of December 16, 2012 lasts approximately 15 minutes, was recorded by Villarejo and belongs to the material seized from the commissioner and not incorporated into any of the open pieces in the

.

The members of the

Pino and Villarejo, agreed that day with the minister to file several complaints in the National High Court and in the Plaza de Castilla courts against pro-independence leaders, including former president Jordi Pujol or then-president Artur Mas.

The complaints were based on testimonies from businessman Javier de la Rosa, a former friend of Pujol;

and Victoria Álvarez, ex-lover of the eldest son of the former Catalan president.

Both had been recruited by Commissioner Villarejo, who promised them financial aid in exchange for their testimonies to the police.

The political and police leadership of the Ministry of the Interior were informed of these activities by the commissioner, who explained to Fernández Díaz his latest steps related to Operation Catalonia.

"The girl" is Victoria Álvarez and she told Villarejo that for a time she traveled to Andorra with Jordi Pujol Ferrusola, who was carrying large amounts of money in 500-euro bills.

The Minister of the Interior interrupts the commissioner to remind him of something that he considers very important and that he will repeat throughout the conversation.

The previous Operation Catalonia was perpetrated a month earlier, coinciding with the Catalan regional election campaign, and was not prosecuted.

The

leaked, with the knowledge of the Chief of Staff of the Minister of the Interior, Francisco Martínez, an anonymous report with false data against members of the Government of Catalonia, against Jordi Pujol, against judges, prosecutors and media directors.

On this occasion, Fernández Díaz is cautious in his meeting with Villarejo and wants that meeting not to be known.

Villarejo and Pino laugh while the minister asks them to keep the meeting secret.

At the same time, Fernández Díaz tries to ensure that the operation against the independentists comes to fruition.

Villarejo agrees to take the complaint to the head of the UDEF.

And he reassures Fernández Díaz.

The Minister of the Interior was interested in the meeting in case the complaint affected more people, and even ordered Villarejo to forget about some of them and asked about others.

The complaints about corruption against Artur Mas never came to anything because it was not proven that he had accounts abroad, not even through figureheads, despite the fact that the

leaked reports to that effect.

The minister reminds the commissioners that they are facing a "state issue" that affects "the unity of Spain", and insists that it is urgent to present the complaint.

Pablo Ruz was then the titular magistrate of court number 5 of the National High Court.

since 2010

and had numerous PP leaders charged.

On December 28, 2012, the judge decided to reject the police complaints with the testimonies of Javier de la Rosa and Victoria Álvarez against the Pujol family.

In Villarejo's agendas that day the "disappointment" of the chief of staff of the minister before that decision of the magistrate is noted.

Annotation in the agendas of Villarejo of December 17, 2012.

Annotation in the agendas of Villarejo of December 28, 2012.

Only two weeks later, the Prosecutor's Office's appeal against Ruz's decision is successful and this judge reopens the case and takes a statement from Álvarez on January 17, 2013. Eight years later and after an exhaustive investigation, the Pujol family will have to sit in court. bench, accused of concocting a corrupt plot to enrich himself for years, taking advantage of his privileged position and his influence in public life to charge illegal commissions to contracting companies of the Generalitat.

Four conspiracies against the independence movement without judicial endorsement

Some of the main police commissioners engaged in a dirty war against the Catalan separatists after the Popular Party came to power (December 2011).

Since former President Artur Mas announced the new secessionist course of his government, the police commissioners maneuvered, without prior court order, to seek corruption to attribute to the Catalan leaders.

The leadership of the Ministry of the Interior thought that by uncovering the corruption of the independentistas they would stop the secession.

But they were wrong.

Anonymous report.

November 2012.

During the days of the November 2012 electoral campaign, Commissioner Villarejo agreed with the minister's chief of staff, Francisco Martínez, to leak to

an anonymous police report strewn with accusations of corruption against the main Catalan independence leaders who Most of them were false.

CiU, the hegemonic party in Catalonia, lost 12 seats (from 62 to 50) in those elections.

Pujol family and the ex-lover of the eldest son.

December 2012.

The Minister of the Interior, Jorge Fernández, directed the police operation against Jordi Pujol and Artur Mas.

Much of the information collected by the police was never verified and the complainant, Javier de la Rosa, recanted.

Another part, corresponding to the complaint of the ex-lover of Jordi Pujol Ferrusola, eldest son of the former president, ended with the prosecution of the Pujol family for the alleged illicit enrichment through illegal commissions paid by contractors of the Generalitat.

Bank of Madrid and BPA.

July 7, 2014. The patriotic police succeeded in getting the owners of the Banca Privada de Andorra (BPA), threatened with closure for alleged money laundering in their entity, to provide a screenshot of an account where Jordi Pujol hid his fortune .

The BPA ended up intervened and they had to close their subsidiary in Spain, the Bank of Madrid.

Now, an Andorran judge has accused ex-president Mariano Rajoy and his ministers Cristóbal Montoro (Treasury) and Jorge Fernández Díaz (Interior) for these acts.

The fake Swiss account of Xavier Trías.

October 2014.

The patriotic police provided the newspaper

with an extract from an alleged Swiss account of the former mayor of Barcelona, ​​the convergent Xavier Trías.

The Swiss bank confirmed that the information was false.

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