Bárcenas Testifies Rajoy Destroyed Evidence of Illegal Party Funding in Kitchen Trial

Luis Bárcenas, the former treasurer of Spain's People's Party, testified for more than five hours on Monday at the National Court in San Fernando de Henares, confirming that the initials "M.R." appearing in the party's off-the-books accounting documents correspond to former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Bárcenas also disclosed that he had recorded Rajoy while the former head of government was using a shredder to destroy confidential documents linked to the party's so-called "B fund," or slush fund. The testimony came during the third week of the Operation Kitchen trial, which examines whether senior officials in Rajoy's Interior Ministry ran an illegal surveillance and document-theft operation targeting Bárcenas and his family. The former treasurer stated he possessed three specific recordings: one of himself explaining the party's off-the-books accounting, a brief one involving Rajoy, and a third involving Javier Arenas, whom Bárcenas described as "a good friend."

Bárcenas admits commissioning destruction of audio from prison Bárcenas told the court that while he was held in pretrial detention in 2013 during the separate Gürtel case, he commissioned a fellow inmate to delete audio recordings "related" to "M.R." The defense teams of the accused drew attention to what they described as contradictions in his testimony, noting that Bárcenas had initially denied the existence of any recordings in earlier judicial statements. Bárcenas acknowledged that during a period when he and the PP were, in his words, in a phase of "let's get along," he had chosen not to disclose the recordings. He explained that the complete breakdown of his relationship with the party, combined with his wife's subsequent imprisonment, precipitated his change of account. Esteban Urreiztieta, deputy director of El Mundo, said on LaSexta that there are "very powerful" indications that someone still possesses the audio of Rajoy receiving funds from the B account, citing references in intercepted recordings among police commanders alluding to the existence of seized material. Bárcenas himself, according to Urreiztieta, has challenged the police commanders he holds responsible for taking that material to bring it forward publicly.

Rosalía Iglesias describes driver's suspicious shift in behavior Rosalía Iglesias, Bárcenas's wife, took the stand after her husband and described the mounting sense of surveillance she experienced from the moment he entered pretrial detention on June 27, 2013. She testified that the family's driver at the time, Sergio Ríos — who is accused in the trial of spying on the Bárcenas family in exchange for payments from reserved state funds — underwent a marked "change in attitude" once her husband was imprisoned. Iglesias told the court that Ríos had previously been "one more member of the family" and that conversations inside the car were held "with total confidence," but that his behavior shifted to nervousness and erratic driving. On multiple occasions after prison visits, she said, Ríos was not waiting at the door of the Soto del Real facility, offering no coherent explanation for his absences. She also noted that he showed an unusual interest in knowing who she was meeting and insisted on accompanying her to those encounters. Iglesias stated she had been told by her husband that recordings of Rajoy and Arenas existed, but confirmed she had never heard them herself. „I have neither heard them nor known about them. My husband, in his eagerness to protect me — though I don't know if he has protected me — would never have told me, and I am not a person who asks much either.” — Rosalía Iglesias via RTVE.es

PP leadership distances itself, citing events "four legislatures ago" Miguel Tellado, the current general secretary of the People's Party, moved swiftly to separate the party's present leadership from the events under judicial scrutiny, telling journalists he had no knowledge of what occurred in Rajoy's government because the current leadership was not "around here" at the time. Tellado stressed that Alberto Núñez Feijóo's PP respects the work of judges, contrasting that position with what he described as the current government's conduct toward the judiciary. He declined to comment on the substance of Bárcenas's testimony, repeating a phrase he has used on previous occasions. „Neither is Sánchez Filesa, nor is Feijóo the Kitchen.” — Miguel Tellado via LaSexta Tellado also asserted that neither he nor any PP representative would be found "insulting, defaming, or casting doubt" on the work of judges. Commentary in Spanish media reflected the broader political weight of the proceedings: ABC columnist Juan Soto Ivars, speaking on the Antena 3 morning programme Espejo Público, described the case as illustrating "the degree of patrimonialization of the State held by political parties," adding that the facts were so extraordinary that "you read this in a novel and you don't believe it."

The Operation Kitchen trial stems from events that took place primarily between 2013 and 2015, when Bárcenas was in pretrial detention in connection with the Gürtel corruption case. Bárcenas served as manager of the People's Party between 1990 and 2008 and subsequently as its treasurer until 2009, according to public records. The Gürtel case, which ran parallel to the Kitchen investigation, examined a network of companies alleged to have received public contracts in exchange for illegal payments to the PP. The Kitchen investigation centres on allegations that senior Interior Ministry officials under Rajoy's government directed police resources to steal documents and recordings from Bárcenas that could have implicated the party's leadership in financial wrongdoing.