The Elcano Institute maintains Cospedal as vice president despite her imputation
The former secretary general of the Popular Party, María Dolores de Cospedal, whom the judge of the National Court Manuel García Castellón has charged this Wednesday Together with her husband for crimes of bribery, embezzlement and influence peddling in the piece investigating espionage with funds reserved for the former treasurer of the Luis Bárcenas formation, she continues to hold the vice-presidency of the Elcano Royal Institute, a position to which she arrived at the proposal of the PP.
A Kitchen commissioner declares in Congress that Rajoy, Cospedal and Fernández Díaz were aware of the operation
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Cospedal has participated this Wednesday in the meeting of the Board of Trustees of the aforementioned institute that took place in Madrid under the presidency of the king. His accusation was known just a few minutes before the meeting began, which was also attended by José Juan Ruiz, president of the Elcano Royal Institute; Nadia Calviño, Third Vice President of the Government and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation; Arancha González Laya, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation; Margarita Robles, Minister of Defense; and José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, Minister of Culture and Sports. Also present were the former presidents of the Government Felipe González, José María Aznar, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Mariano Rajoy, as well as other former executives of PP and PSOE.
As explained by the aforementioned institute to elDiario.es, the procedural situation of Cospedal has not been addressed at the meeting this morning, in which José Juan Ruiz has made an assessment of the current challenges in the transition to a post-pandemic world, according to the aforementioned body has explained through a press release. Those same sources have assured not knowing what the future of the former secretary general of the PP in the Board of Trustees will be.
Cospedal was Casado's key support in the 2018 primaries. After being eliminated in the first phase of the process as a result of the militants' vote - in which Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría was the winner and the current leader of the PP was second -, Cospedal displayed all his organic power to tip the balance in favor of the current party president.
The PP defends the "presumption of innocence"
In November 2018, she had to resign her seat after revealing her conversations with former Commissioner Villarejo, but two months earlier, in September of that year, Casado's management elected her as representative of the PP on the board of the Elcano Institute, in the that last February she was named vice president.
The Popular Party has asked this Wednesday to "respect the presumption of innocence" of the former minister and former secretary general of the conservative formation. This was stated earlier in the afternoon by the Vice Secretary of Communication of the PP, Pablo Montesinos, during a ceremony in Zaragoza after being asked about the procedural situation of Cospedal, the great supporter of Casado who opted for his triumph in the 2018 primaries. In similar terms, the mayor of Madrid and national spokesman for the PP, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, had expressed himself minutes before, who has considered that "as long as there is no conviction, Cospedal is innocent."
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