The Court reopens the case against Brufau and Fainé in the 'Villarejo case'

The Third Section of the Criminal Chamber of the National audience has agreed to reopen the case against the president of Repsol, Antonio Brufau, and the former president of caixabank, Isidre Fainé, as recorded in a car to which he has had access THE NEWSPAPER OF SPAIN, which specifies that the investigation carried out reveals the existence of criminal conduct, which can be classified as crimes of bribery and the discovery and disclosure of secrets.

In this way, the magistrates estimate the resources presented by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, the businessman Luis del Rivero and Podemos against the order of Judge Manuel García Castellón on July 29, 2021 in which the instructor agreed, in the separate piece 21 of the so-called Tandem Operation, the provisional dismissal of the accusations against Brufau and Fainé, but also against the legal entities Caixabank, SA and Repsol SA. Thus, the Chamber annuls the dismissals in order to carry out certain procedures that it considers appropriate and necessary.

Specifically, the magistrates assure that there are indications from which it can be deduced that the initiative to carry out the hiring of commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, as well as others aimed at reacting against the pact Sacyr-Pemex, “started from Mr. Brufau” and that he “was informed in detail” of the results of the group’s efforts Cenite: “Some of which involved information that was difficult to obtain had the intervention of public officials not been mediated,” the order indicates.

There are no documents or audios

However, the order shows that there is no document, written, sound or image, that directly proves that Brufau carried out or ordered others to hire Villarejo: “Nor is there any where it is recorded that he knew, when the order was made , that Villarejo was an active commissioner of the National Police Corps, nor that he was informed of this circumstance at a later time,” he completes.

As in the case of Brufau, the magistrates confirm that there are no written, sound or image documents that prove that Fainé, then president of Caixabank, carried out or ordered others to carry out the order to Cenyt. But also in his case, the Chamber has detected indications that force the procedure regarding Fainé to continue. Specifically, the order says that Fainé claimed to have agreed with Brufau that the security departments of their respective companies collaborate in the Sacyr matter -Pemex and that their respective managers meet to deal with the Villarejo company, with whom the Repsol security director had already contacted. The former president of Caixabank, who admitted having received information about the results of the commissioner’s efforts, also said, the magistrates continue, that he transmitted the news of the hiring to Caixabank’s director of security, Miguel Ángel Fernández Rancaño: “Entrusting him to meet with his counterpart at Repsol to address the issue”.

Repsol’s case

In the case of the oil company, as a legal entity, the magistrates consider that the instruction carried out so far also reveals the existence of indications of criminal behavior qualifiable as crimes of bribery and discovery and disclosure of secrets: “From what has been done, it is evident that, by virtue of the aforementioned commission, carried out in 2011 by Repsol, to which Caixabank later joined, the Cenyt group, led by Mr. Villarejo, commissioner of the National Police Corps (CNP) , were made by said group, in exchange for a price, which was paid by the commissioning companies, certain investigations into the now appellant Luis Del Rivero, his wife and people linked to Sacyr, some of whom had previously been linked to Repsol, which included access to data on the traffic of telephone calls and other communications”, says the writ.