The National High Court judge Santiago Pedraz has charged José Manuel García Catalán, a retired former provincial commissioner of the National Police in Lleida, in the case investigating alleged illegal inquiries against Podemos officials. The magistrate has summoned him to testify as an investigated person on June 25 at 10:15 AM, along with another agent.
The decision comes after Pedraz upheld an appeal by Pablo Iglesias, who is involved as a harmed party, and places under investigation the former head of the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit in 2016. The case examines whether former high-ranking officials from the Ministry of the Interior and the Police promoted prospective investigations unrelated to judicial proceedings, an action incompatible with the control that should govern any police inquiry.
Pedraz summoned the former Lleida commissioner after accepting Pablo Iglesias' appeal
The magistrate opened the investigation by admitting a complaint filed by Podemos for alleged crimes of criminal organization, misappropriation, disclosure of secrets, administrative prevarication, and document forgery. In that resolution, he dismissed, however, the crimes of embezzlement and against state institutions.
In its filing, Podemos maintained that the investigated individuals "were responsible for conducting prospective investigations unrelated to any police interest, not under judicial or Public Prosecutor's Office control." The party is acting as the prosecution in a proceeding that is taking place in the National High Court.
Outside the court, the reference to Lleida arises from the position García Catalán held as head of the provincial police station and his previous tenure in the economic unit. In February, when the request for charges became known, the National Police in Lleida declined to comment and recalled that the former chief had already retired.
The 2016 trip to New York remains under examination in the case of the political brigade
One of the aspects the investigation is handling places García Catalán in New York in 2016, at a meeting with Rafael Isea, former Minister of Finance of Venezuela during Hugo Chávez's government. The objective of that meeting was to endorse a document that attributed an alleged tax offense to the founders of Podemos.
That trip is also part of the investigation opened against Francisco Martínez and commanders of the so-called political brigade of the PP. José Ángel Fuentes Gago is already charged in this line of inquiry.
When he declared as a witness at the end of last year, García Catalán responded with a brief formula regarding the facts attributed to him. His response was "I don't remember" to the judge in a case that now places him as investigated.
The appearance of José Manuel García Catalán and the other investigated agent is scheduled for June 25 at 10:15 AM in the Audiencia Nacional.