“Everything is open,” warn the political groups that are going to negotiate —until minutes before tomorrow’s vote in the Congress of Deputies— the final list of those appearing for the new investigation commission on the State Sewers. But the parties have already presented, late this afternoon, their proposals. The one of the PSOE, the one that has more signs of prospering, does not include for the moment the name of the former president of the Government, Mariano Rajoy. The Socialists want to limit the first round of appearances at the Ministry of the Interior led by Jorge Fernández Díaz, with his statement, his former number two, Francisco Martínez, the former director of the National Police Ignacio Cosidó and the former DAO Eugenio Pino .
In the list of requests to appear that the Socialist Group in Congress has registered, the former general secretary of the Popular Party, María Dolores de Cospedal, also repeats, who on the last occasion found out minutes before arriving at the Lower House that the judge who was investigating the Kitchen case in the National Court had requested his imputation. Finally her name came out of the case.
Among the police commanders, the epicenter of the political police: former commissioner José Manuel Villarejo. A name that is repeated in the lists of the rest of the parties. Like the rest of the cronies during one of the darkest stages of Interior: Enrique García Castaño, Enrique Barón, José Luis Olivera or Marcelino Martín Blas
The intention of this commission of investigation on the actions of the Ministry of the Interior during the Government of the Popular Party in relation to the alleged irregularities that link senior police officers and commanders with the existence of a vigilante plot to focus part of its work on the so-called Operation Catalonia or the action of the popular government to cause the closure of the Private Bank of Andorra.
In the list that the PSOE has presented, the former members of the Interior appear in Andorra between 2012 and 2013 (Bonifacio Díaz) and between 2014 and 2017 (Celestino Barroso). Also the former Chief of Police in Catalonia from 2012 to 2015, Agustín Castro.
The partners of the Government have been in the afternoon of this Wednesday, according to parliamentary sources, negotiating the possibility of presenting a unitary list. There has been no way. From United We Can complain that the socialists “have refused to accept” their appearing parties. “We hope that tomorrow there will be some possibility of reaching an agreement in the Commission,” the same sources detail.
On the list of Unidas Podeos is the request for the appearance of the former secretary general of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias. Also names of journalists appear. Among them, the director of La Sexta, Antonio García Ferreras, “as a participant in those ‘sewers’ after hearing the audios with Villarejo in which he acknowledges having spread false information about Iglesias, with a clear intention of manipulating the democratic system ” .
The confederal group has also included in its list the appearance of the president of the National Court, José Ramón Navarro, who exchanged messages with the former Secretary of State for Security Francisco Martínez. United We Can does include the former Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy.
The Popular Party, which for obvious reasons refuses to accept this investigative commission, has also presented its own list that includes almost two dozen names. In it are the current Ministers of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the Defense Minister, Margarita Robles. Also the recently resigned as director of the Civil Guard, María Gámez. Diego Pérez de los Cobos, Laura Borrás, Josep Luis Trapero or Jordi Pujol complete the proposal of the popular.
The most extensive list presented bears the signature of ERC. The Republicans have proposed up to fifty names. There are the four presidents of the Popular Party: José María Aznar, Mariano Rajoy, Pablo Casado and Alberto Núñez Feijóo. And the last three Ministers of the Interior: Jorge Fernández Díaz, Juan Ignacio Zoido and Fernando Grande-Marlaska.
The pro-independence group wants the businessman Javier Pérez Dolset, Sandro Rosell, Alicia Sánchez Camacho and Victoria Álvarez to parade through the Congress of Deputies. For its part, from EH Bildu, with a list headed by Rajoy and Fernández Díaz, they want the chief inspector Pedro Agudo, the former head of the UCO Manuel Sánchez Corbi or the commissioner Carlos Salamanca to attend the commission.
The lists of the Catalan parties also include pro-independence leaders allegedly affected by the maneuvers of the so-called ‘patriotic police’, such as the president of ERC and convicted in the cause of the process, Oriol Junqueras; the former president Artur Mas and the former mayor of Barcelona and candidate for re-election by Junts, Xavier Trias.
