The head of the Court of Instruction Number 46 of Madrid, Jose Maria Escribano, has decided to charge the treasurer of Podemos, Daniel de Frutos , and the manager of the purple formation, Rocio Esther Val , in the so-called babysitter case, in which it is investigated if the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, used an employee of Podemos -now an adviser to the Ministry- as a caregiver for her daughter during the 2019 electoral campaign.
In a ruling, the judge has agreed to hear De Frutos and Val next July 19 at 10:00 in the courts of Plaza de Castilla. Within the framework of the investigation, it was planned that they would go to court that same day as witnesses, althoughfinally they will do it as investigated.
The case is based on the facts that the former person in charge of Regulatory Compliance of Podemos Monica Carmona exposed before the magistrate that instructs the Neurona case , where it is investigated whether the relationship between Podemos and the Mexican consultant that gives its name to the case was based or not on a simulated contract in the framework of the alleged work carried out for the general elections of April 28, 2019.
The former head of compliance told the Neurona judge in a letter that Montero would have used the advisor to the Ministry of Equality Teresa Arevalo -then employee of the party who now works as an Equality adviser- as a caregiver for her daughter during the aforementioned electoral campaign.
Sources from Podemos have pointed out to Europa Press that “this procedure is yet another setup to persecute ” the purple formation, while denouncing that it “is promoted by sectors of the patriotic judiciary.” Since last April 27, Judge Escribano has directed preliminary proceedings against Montero and Arevalo, although he only cites the advisor as being investigated, since the minister is registered before the Supreme Court.
Pending the testimonial of Carmona
Carmona assured that Arevalo accompanied the then candidate and her daughter on a trip that took place on October 20, 2019 to the city of Alicante to participate in an electoral act and that Montero left the girl in the care of the advisor while intervening in the event.
It is pending that the magistrate calls Carmona and another former employee of the formation, Elena Gonzalez , to take testimony, since he asked the National Police to locate their homes “as soon as possible” so that they could also be summoned as witnesses.
The judge’s decision comes after the Prosecutor’s Office requested that both Podemos workers be summoned as investigated , “given that both in the case of the electoral crime (for expenses for personal benefit paid with electoral money) and in the case of administration disloyal ” the two were the ones who “ordered the payment” and, therefore, “in their guarantee they should be heard as investigated”
In a letter dated June 25, the prosecutor Lorena Alvarez Taboada requested that the declaration of both workers of Podemos be requested for next July 14, the date scheduled for the interrogation of Arevalo, investigated in the case for an alleged crime of unfair administration. As a result of the Carmona story, who maintains that Minister Irene Montero would have used Arevalo -then an employee of Podemos- as a caregiver for her daughter during the 2019 campaign.
In that same letter, the prosecutor showed her opposition to the former leader of the purple formation and partner of the Minister of Equality Pablo Iglesias being cited as being investigated. “We can’t help but oppose it,” he said, considering that of the facts recounted in the letter sent by Carmona “there is no element that proves, even indirectly, the participation of Pablo Iglesias in any criminal act, no matter how much the daughter of Irene Montero is, in turn, his daughter.
