García Castellón offers Dolores Delgado to appear as harmed by some recordings of Villarejo

The judge of the 'Villarejo case', Manuel García Castellón, has agreed to extend the investigation of the separate piece 'Pit' for another six months while offering the State Attorney General, Dolores Delgado, to appear as the victim of the explicit references that are made about her in some of the audios that appear in the case.

In an order from this same Friday, collected by Europa Press, the head of the Central Court of Instruction Number 6, Manuel García Castellón, cites Delgado as injured to "make the corresponding offer of shares" after having "been able to verify" that he did not this possibility was previously offered to him. Villarejo would appear in some recordings linking Delgado with the operation to avoid the businessman's extradition, a millionaire commission from him to the commissioner.

In this regard, the judge points out that “explicit references appear by” Villarejo regarding a “possible participation in the facts investigated in this piece by Delgado, who today holds the position of State Attorney General, and who at that time was prosecutor of the National High Court" and "that could constitute a crime against honor".

This decision is part of the separate piece number 4 of the macro-cause on the works of Villarejo, in which the judge investigates the alleged commission that the shipping brothers Ángel and Álvaro Pérez Maura would have made to the retired commissioner to prevent the former from being extradited to Guatemala.

The instructor considers it necessary to extend the investigation until January 2023 "because, having reviewed the proceedings, he understands that there is room to exhaust the investigation in terms that satisfy the right of defense and the right of prosecution, without the term being exhausted " intended for research,

"It cannot be inferred, with the seriousness that criminal law demands, that the conviction has been reached that the preparatory phase has come to an end," says the magistrate, who thus seeks to "carry out the proceedings" that are pending. .

The instructor endorses the words of the Prosecutor's Office, which interested in the extension, to explain what the pending procedures are. Among other things, he must still receive the report from the Tax Agency clerk, so that conclusions can be issued in relation to the commission of the alleged crimes against the Public Treasury that are attributed to some of those investigated, "it being foreseeable that proceedings may be derived as a consequence” thereof.

"The rogatory commission sent to the authorities of the Republic of Guatemala is also pending return, in which the practice of proceedings of a diverse nature is requested in order to clarify the crime of international bribery," explains the judge.

And it is that, “as the Prosecutor points out, the practice of proceedings derived from the previous ones will be essential and indispensable in order to conclude the investigation phase of a crime of international bribery with an approximate amount of 30 million dollars in which they have been used. complex instrumental financial structures with different intervening States in order to materialize illicit payments as a result of bribery without the execution of those requested by the Guatemalan authorities to date.”

On the other hand, the magistrate points out that “the declaration of the legal person Pérez y Cía SL” that was agreed in 2020 is also pending. “Finally, the Prosecutor points out in his report that it cannot be ruled out that, as a result of the documentation examined by the Internal Affairs Unit of the National Police Corps, data may appear that requires the practice of new investigative procedures, "he concludes.

Guatemala asked Spain for the delivery of Ángel Pérez Maura in 2016, accused of paying bribes of up to 30 million dollars to high-ranking officials of the Central American nation, including Pérez Molina and Baldetti, to obtain the award of an infrastructure in Puerto Quetzal.

It was in April 2021 when García-Castellón decided to take on the case directed in Guatemala against one of the brothers for alleged crimes of illicit association, fraud and bribery to conclude the investigation phase and, where appropriate, proceed to trial.

However, the investigations in Spain focus on the 7.4 million euros that the companies of Villarejo and his partner, Rafael Redondo, would have pocketed in exchange for the "illicit contracted services."

According to the magistrate, that money was later distributed "to make payments to merchants linked to third parties related to the 'Pit' project, for the maintenance of the investigated corporate structure (...) or to make transfers to other accounts of the same companies and others whose real owner is Villarejo”.

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, which took charge of both this case and the one opened in Guatemala, sees in this alleged operation crimes of bribery, international bribery, influence peddling, document forgery, cover-up, money laundering and criminal organization.