Former Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, on Thursday firmly denied any involvement in an alleged covert operation to obtain compromising material from former People’s Party (PP) treasurer Luis Bárcenas, telling Spain’s National Court that no political plot ever existed.
Testifying in Madrid in the so-called ‘Kitchen Case’ — the Operación Kitchen — the former right-wing leader rejected accusations that his government ordered the seizure or destruction of sensitive evidence linked to the PP’s alleged irregular financing.
‘There was no political operation,’ Rajoy said, insisting that any police activity related to Bárcenas was carried out lawfully.
He added that he only became aware of a ‘police operation’ after leaving office, which, according to his account, had been conducted ‘in full compliance with the law’. Its ‘fundamental objective’, he said, was ‘to seize Bárcenas’s money abroad and find out who his front men were … Not paperwork’.
Rajoy also dismissed as ‘absolutely false’ claims that he personally destroyed evidence tied to the party’s alleged slush fund or received an envelope from Bárcenas containing details of off-the-books accounts.
Operación Kitchen centres on allegations that senior Interior Ministry officials orchestrated a clandestine police operation between 2013 and 2015 to obtain material that could damage the PP, while Bárcenas was in pre-trial detention over his role in the Gürtel scandal – a corrupt bribes-for-contracts network that operated across six Spanish regions between 1999 and 2005.
The case is examining the actions of figures including a former national police commissioner, a deputy police chief and Bárcenas’s driver, amid suspicions they were used to access sensitive information.
At the time, Bárcenas was a central figure in the Gürtel case — a major kickback-for-contracts scheme involving businessmen accused of bribing senior PP officials in exchange for public works contracts.
The lengthy investigation culminated in a landmark ruling that convicted Bárcenas and found that the PP had benefited as a ‘lucrative entity’, a decision that ultimately led to Rajoy’s removal from office following a no-confidence vote led by socialist (PSOE) leader Pedro Sánchez.
The controversy intensified in 2013 when reports emerged that Bárcenas had kept handwritten ledgers documenting a long-running system of undeclared party accounts, prompting speculation that a covert police effort had been launched to secure the documents.
However, Rajoy denied that his administration had ordered any surveillance or intimidation campaign against Bárcenas or his family. He also rejected suggestions that senior political figures would have overseen such operations.
‘Their job isn’t to have informants or to know how the (confidential) operational funds are spent … that’s ridiculous,’ he said.
An interior minister, he added, is responsible for approving ‘major budget allocations’ for forces such as the National Police or Guardia Civil, ‘not specific operations … It would be absurd if that were the case’.
The National Court is continuing to investigate Rajoy’s former Interior Minister, Jorge Fernández Díaz, and other senior officials over their alleged role in the operation. ALSO READ: Spying scandal trial opens turbulent week for Spain’s political elite.
Rajoy, who served as prime minister from 2011 to 2018, had previously made history in 2017 by becoming the first sitting Spanish premier to testify in court, when he appeared as a witness in the Gürtel trial.
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VIDEO | El expresidente del Gobierno español Mariano Rajoy ha negado haber triturado la última hoja de la contabilidad B del PP en presencia del extesorero, Luis Bárcenas. pic.twitter.com/Fzt7lJHr1r
— EFE Noticias (@EFEnoticias) April 23, 2026
🔴Rajoy, sobre los alias de ‘El Asturiano’ y ‘El Barbas’, utilizados por Villarejo: “Yo me llamo Mariano Rajoy y luego cada uno me llama como quiera” https://t.co/969xCi5uG0 pic.twitter.com/FxEw2XdvW6
— elDiario.es (@eldiarioes) April 23, 2026
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