Overview
- At the Audiencia Nacional, doctor Elisa Pinto testified that Javier López Madrid told her he hired ex‑commissioner José Manuel Villarejo to bury any complaint, an accusation he denies as prosecutors decline to charge in the cohecho case while seeking up to 13 years for him in a separate Madrid trial on alleged harassment next month.
- The Barcelona court probing a possible facilitated escape of Carles Puigdemont has ordered the seizure and forensic extraction of three Mossos’ phones to search for contacts with the expresident, as Hazte Oír pushes a six‑month extension that the officers’ defense opposes as a “general cause.”
- The Supreme Court is hearing appeals against the pretrial jailing of José Luis Ábalos and Koldo García over alleged mask‑contract kickbacks, with the instructor citing a high flight risk and severe potential penalties, and it has also rebuffed García’s bid to impose a similar bond on businessman Víctor de Aldama for lack of standing.
- Alejandro Jurado, chief of staff to Balearic president Marga Prohens, has been formally named as an investigado for alleged prevarication and influence peddling tied to appointing a relative as the president’s driver, with a court date set for March 24 and additional records and accident reports requested.
- In the Badajoz case over the 2017 conservatory post held by David Sánchez, judges will allow multiple popular accusations to act separately at a late‑May trial as former provincial chief Miguel Ángel Gallardo’s resignation ends his aforamiento and keeps the case at the provincial court without a Fiscalía indictment.