Overview
- The ruling overturns the May convictions that gave José Manuel Villarejo eight years and his partner Rafael Redondo six for revelation of secrets in pieza 21, known as Proyecto Wine.
- Magistrates concluded the discovery-and-revelation charges were prescribed, applying a five-year limit once bribery was ruled out, and criticized the trial court for contradicting Supreme Court jurisprudence on connected crimes.
- The court revoked the €389,000 confiscation ordered over payments linked to work for Repsol and CaixaBank.
- The Anticorruption Prosecutor’s bid to secure bribery convictions was rejected because the activities were not tied to Villarejo’s police role and were deemed purely private.
- Former security executives at Repsol (Rafael Araujo and Rafael Girona) and CaixaBank (Miguel Ángel Fernández Rancaño) were cleared for lack of proof they knew of or received call-traffic data, with coverage noting this adds to a string of recent acquittals for Villarejo.