José Manuel Villarejo testified Monday in the Audiencia Nacional that operation Kitchen sought information on possible links between Juan Carlos I and arms trafficking. Eugenio Pino, who testified earlier, defended the legality of the operation and exonerated the other defendants.
Villarejo stated that Ignacio Cosidó entrusted him with the operation through Eugenio Pino. He described the operation as legal and aimed at locating Luis Bárcenas’s assets abroad.
The retired commissioner pointed out that Mariano Rajoy took advantage of the operation to obtain information that personally affected him. He added that the other defendants were deceived by the former president.
Pino, for his part, maintained that Kitchen was part of the DAO’s routine intelligence operations. He denied any connection to the Gürtel case and accused Baltasar Garzón of a maneuver to implicate him.