Spain's Kitchen trial uncovers alleged police operation on ex‑PP treasurer Bárcenas

During the Audiencia Nacional proceedings known as the Kitchen trial, retired commissioner José Luis Olivera – former head of the Unidad de Delincuencia Económica y Fiscal (UDEF) – testified that former commissioner José Manuel Villarejo told him in a 2017 lunch that a police operation had been commissioned to locate money, documents and other evidentiary material linked to former People’s Party (PP) treasurer Luis Bárcenas. Olivera confirmed the meeting with Villarejo and businessman Adrián de la Joya, noting that the operation also involved the driver Sergio Ríos, described as a “confidante”. He said Villarejo mentioned the need to recover the missing €27 million that prosecutors estimated Bárcenas had hidden abroad. Olivera denied personal participation in the alleged parapolicial activity that allegedly ran from 2013‑2015, describing Villarejo’s claim that “they had taken something from Bárcenas” as something he never believed.

Other senior inspectors, José Ángel Fuentes Gago and Bonifacio Díez Sevillano, also denied any knowledge of the operation. The prosecution is seeking a combined 41 years of imprisonment for the accused. In a related move, the political party Podemos has asked the judge to summon former chief inspector Manuel Morocho – who investigated the Gürtel case and the PP’s “Caja B” – as a witness, alleging that police pressure was applied to suppress investigations into the party.

The Kitchen case intertwines the earlier Gürtel investigation, alleged illegal surveillance of political opponents, and the search for Bárcenas’s undisclosed assets, highlighting potential abuse of police powers and raising questions about the integrity of Spain’s political and judicial institutions.