The court of the National High Court that judges box B of the PP has heard this Tuesday the interrogation of

Cristóbal Páez

, whom Luis Bárcenas signed as manager of the party.

The name of Paéz -whose contagion pro coronavirus supposed suspended the trial for a few weeks- appears in two entries of the parallel accounting, each one together with a payment of 6,000 euros.

In his answers to the prosecutor, he confirmed that the notes were true and explained why they were due.

"Bárcenas pays me this amount because when I get to work, his proposal was as a manager, with a much higher remuneration. I was doing things that generated significant savings and he said, 'hey, Luis, I have shown more than enough that I do things well , I deserve a raise. "He tells me that he will speak with the general secretary. One day he calls me at [the then treasurer Álvaro] Lapuerta's office and they congratulate me." We are very happy with your work, son, "Lapuerta tells me. they give a bonus, an envelope with 6,000 euros ".

Páez got upset because he wanted him on the payroll, but they insisted that it couldn't be and he kept the money.

Páez's words serve to further ratify -Bárcenas and others who have already paid have done so- the veracity of the notes on the

papers

.

And with this, indirectly, that of payments in B for the reform of the headquarters of the PP, which is the main object of the trial.

Tensions

Beyond the morass of documents on the reform that have been exhibited for hours, the interrogation has exposed a couple of episodes that reflected the tension that arose after the outbreak of the Gürtel case.

The implication already from the beginning of Bárcenas - although until years later nothing was known about Box B - caused him to officially stop acting as treasurer.

But na reality was that he was still in power in the party and that he fought for it, according to the story of who had been his right hand.

"I did not understand that he was still there [in Genoa], anyone who came would see him. They told me that the Treasury functions were assumed by the general secretary [María Dolores de Cospedal]. Bárcenas told me not to dispatch with her and she, you don't dispatch with him. "

Páez was in the middle and made an appointment with the president.

"Rajoy told me to dispatch with the general secretary. When I told Bárcenas, he became furious and ordered people from Management not to inform me of anything."

"When I enter that crossfire between Cospedal and Bárcenas, Bárcenas begins to distrust me."

Páez also complains to Ángel Acebes.

"I do not understand how the party keeps him here in retirement," he tells the former secretary general.

Bárcenas finds out about the encounter and calls him immediately.

"I entered the office and Bárcenas became very violent with me, very violent. He threw a lighter at me that I was able to dodge. He threatened me, said 'you're dead, you're finished', or something like that. That shocked me and I was scared."

He ended up having a meeting with Rajoy and Bárcenas in which the president of the party did not end up fixing anything. "He told me 'why don't you agree and fix it.' complicated his life, that he returned, with the commitment that Bárcenas would not go, but Bárcenas kept going because they allowed him to keep going. "

"Within reach of anyone"

Páez, for whom the Prosecutor's Office requests 18 months in prison for documentary falsification and tax fraud, also related a previous episode, after the outbreak of the Gürtel case, which reflects that the former PP treasurer saw what was coming.

"Bárcenas gave me documentation that he wanted me to keep. He made it clear to me that he had divided it into two parts and that one was giving it to another person, he did not tell me who. It was when

Gürtel

jumps

. One day in the afternoon, late Now, he tells me 'Cristóbal come, I want to leave you one thing so that you can keep me, I don't want this to be available to anyone' ".

"As already then many things had been published about him, he told him why I put myself in that commitment. 'Because I have confidence in you,' he told me. 'Come, I'm going to tell you what there is'.' No, I don't want to know, don't compromise me, I'll keep it for you but don't compromise me, "I replied. Despite that, he took it out of the envelope and showed me contracts, invoices ...".

Bárcenas recovered that documentation and ended up delivering it to the National Court.

The other part were those later known as

Bárcenas papers

, the entries of income and expenses in black that he gave to the lawyer

Jorge Trías

and that when they came out in the press uncovered the existence of box B of the PP.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • PP

  • Mariano Rajoy

  • National audience

  • Angel Acebes

  • Maria Dolores de Cospedal

  • Coronavirus

  • Bárcenas case

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