The Madrid judge investigating the so-called Neurona case, Juan José Escalonilla, has filed the case for Podemos co-founder Juan Carlos Monedero and has agreed to remove the party itself from the procedure.
In an order dated September 6, the head of the investigating court number 42 of Madrid has Podemos “removed” from the procedure given that the investigation has been “limited” to the alleged commission of an electoral crime, in which no criminal liability of the political party is provided for.
In relation to Monedero, the magistrate has accepted the file request made by his defense in February and has confirmed that “there are no indications” that the co-founder of Podemos “intermediated or had any participation in the hiring” carried out by Unidas Podemos. with the consulting firm Neurona in relation to the 2019 elections. And it also admits the “authenticity” of the controversial invoice of 26,200 euros that Monedero charged from the consulting firm Neurona for political consulting work.
Monedero was listed as a defendant for an invoice issued on December 30, 2018 for a value of $30,000 for “300 hours of face-to-face consulting in Buenos Aires, Mexico and Colombia” for which on January 25, 2019 he received a bank deposit of $26,200. .31 euros from Neurona Consulting.
Monedero asked the judge to exonerate him since the report from the Central Cybercrime Unit of the National Police ruled out that he manipulated the emails containing the invoice of 26,200 euros – which he issued to the consultant.
Both the judge and the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) of the Police believed that it was a false invoice that would cover up an alleged commission that Monedero would have received for its alleged intermediation so that Podemos hired the Spanish subsidiary of Neurona Consulting. Neurona Comunidad- for the general elections held on April 28, 2019.
But Monedero insisted that after the procedures carried out it was “clarified that the payment in question could not have been an intermediation, since on the date of writing the invoice, the holding of general elections was not even planned.”
