The Court who judges José Manuel Villarejo has agreed on Monday to unadmit the recusal raised by the retired commissioner against one of its members. The Fourth Section of the National Hearing rejects studying the incident considering that it has been clearly presented outside the 10-day period that the law foresees from the moment it is aware of the reason for recusing.
In this case, Villarejo alleged that in the past he had maintained contact with Magistrate Fermín Echari to try to exempt from an accusation of fiscal offense to a arms dealer who was linked to Juan Carlos I.
This previous contact, and the fact of not having communicated to the rest of the court would, would be the loss of the appearance of impartiality of Echarri. According to Villarejo, he did not remember that circumstance on the judge until recent information mentioned the annotations about that encounter he noted in him's agendas.
The room estimates that this explanation of Villarejo that he did not remember the meeting is artificial and therefore has not fulfilled the legal term of 10 days. The Chamber has had the support of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, which has considered that the deadline from which to start against the 10 days began when the main defendant of the tandem case was notified what the composition of the court would be. Or, as late, the day the trial began and was in front of the magistrate.
Thus, the president of the court, Angela Murillo, has ordered to move forward with the first trial against Villarejo, by three of the multiple pieces in which the tandem case has been fragmented. It has been the turn of the painter, about the payment to the former commissar so that he will press an entrepreneur in favor of the interests of the Muñoz Tamara brothers.
The first to appear before John Muñoz Tamara, husband of the presenter Ana Rosa Quintana. He is part of the long list of accused that in recent months has reached an agreement with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office to recognize the facts in exchange for a substantial reduction in the request for condemnation that would deliver it from effective income in prison.
At questions from the prosecutor and his defense - he has not responded to the rest of the parties, "the employer explained that they hired Villarejo to seek information about another entrepreneur, Mattheo Martín Navarro, who was investigated by fiscal crime with Fernando Muñoz Tamara. This entrepreneur had changed a lawyer and strategy and planned to retract the assumption of his responsibility and endorsed it to Muñoz Tamara.
Villarejo's efforts included the delivery of a video starring the new lawyer, the former Judge Francis Javier de Urquía, whom he took responsibility for the change of defensive strategy: "In the video are a ladies with Mr. Urquía and another Lord in an attitude ... drugs are consumed and these ladies should be prostitutes. " In a second video, the same lawyer would appear consuming drugs in the bathroom of a disco.
"It is addressed discussion of information of this type in the incidence of the ultimate goal that was to get Mr. Matthew to change from Posture," Juan Muñoz Tamara added. His brother, who has appeared then, has ratified the statement and that, although the videos were not used to extort Urquía, he paid Villarejo 20,000 euros for work.
After signing the conformity with the facts, the prosecution applied attenuating to the Brothers Muñoz Tamara and reduced his initial request of eight years in prison for just 11 months.
Date Of Update: 10 January 2022, 06:47
