Andorran judge seeks Madrid visit with police to examine BPA state secrets after Spain denied access

An Andorran judge has requested permission from Spain’s National Court to travel to Madrid and examine state secrets, diaries and documents linked to former police commissioner José Manuel Villarejo concerning Andorra.

The request forms part of the Anacleto investigation in Andorra, in which brothers Higini and Ramon Cierco, alongside Villarejo, are being investigated over allegations of gathering or fabricating information against Andorran institutions.

The request appears in a supplement to an international letter of request seen by La Veu Lliure, submitted by Judge Azahara Cascales, of Specialised Investigating Section 1, to Central Investigating Court No. 6 at Spain’s National Court.

Cascales previously held a politically appointed advisory position at the Ministry of Justice and the Interior under then-minister Xavier Espot.

The document relates to preliminary criminal proceedings and proposes an alternative means of accessing material that the investigating judge considers essential to establishing the facts.

Spain previously refused access on state secrecy grounds

According to the document, requests for international judicial assistance were submitted on June 7 and October 21, 2022, seeking information relevant to the Andorran proceedings.

It states that the Spanish judicial authorities refused the request on national security and public policy grounds because some of the information was reportedly protected by state secrecy under Spanish law. 

The document also identifies a second obstacle: the inability to allocate staff to locating the requested material, given the scale and complexity of the extensive proceedings under investigation in Spain.

In response, Cascales is again requesting permission for herself, the court clerk and the Andorran police officers handling the investigation to read, search and select the documentation directly at the National Court.

The judge argues that this arrangement would reduce the workload of Spanish officials and requests access to the case files on dates to be agreed in Madrid.

Three recordings and Villarejo’s diaries

The request specifically identifies three audio recordings referenced in Internal Affairs Unit report No. 2420, dated December 16, 2020, on pages 40 to 55 of the police report.

It also seeks copies of diaries and notes seized from Villarejo containing entries reported in the press, as well as recordings and other documents concerning Andorra, its institutions, current or former officials, and individuals or legal entities established in the country.

The proposed search references include the Cierco brothers, Alberto Pedraza, Adrián de la Joya, Juan Pablo Miquel, Maribel Lafoz and Banca Privada d’Andorra (BPA).

The document also requests the identification of a person referred to as “Tony” or “Toni” from Andorra in the former commissioner’s recordings and handwritten notes. 

The inclusion of these names among the search criteria does not mean that all those mentioned have the same procedural status.

News of the judge’s request follows the emergence of material presented at the Operation Kitchen trial that lent credibility to emails published by RAC1 concerning the intervention in BPA.

As La Veu Lliure reported on June 9, messages introduced at the trial between Villarejo’s associates and alleged operatives of Spain’s National Intelligence Centre (CNI) used the same email domains as those appearing in the BPA correspondence.

The emails published by RAC1, attributed to CNI agents and addressed to Villarejo, pointed to an alleged agreement between Mariano Rajoy and Andorra’s then-head of government, Antoni Martí, to bring down BPA and its subsidiary Banco Madrid and obtain information about alleged accounts held by Catalan pro-independence politicians.

The messages claimed that the operation was being carried out on the Spanish prime minister’s orders and described contacts with US authorities to trigger a FinCEN alert that would serve to justify the intervention. A subsequent email requested a second alert to ensure that those running the bank could not reverse the situation.

Investigation into the Cierco brothers’ alleged commissions

In its account of the background, the Andorran court explains that the proceedings arose from Spanish media reports about judicial material linked to Operation Tándem.

The document seen by this newspaper refers to investigations into alleged offences involving an unlawful association and money laundering.

It also recalls that an order dated July 12, 2022, extended the proceedings against the Cierco brothers to include alleged money laundering and an offence against the prestige of institutions, and against Villarejo for the latter offence. 

Andorra’s offence against the prestige of institutions is defined in Article 325 of the Criminal Code. It carries no prison sentence, but is punishable by a fine of up to €30,000 and disqualification from public office for up to four years. This offence does not appear in the list of predicate offences for money laundering set out in Article 409.

Unease within Spain’s judiciary

To address concerns over state secrecy, the Andorran court proposes that any examination take place under the direct supervision of the Spanish judicial authorities and subject to whatever conditions they impose.

The judge undertakes not to make copies, take photographs or physically remove documents or passages that Spain considers inseparable from national security or state secrecy.

She also guarantees that any information obtained would be used exclusively in these criminal proceedings and kept confidential from third parties.

The request concludes by asking the National Court, should it grant permission, to communicate a date on which the examination could take place.

Sources in the upper ranks of Spain’s judiciary have expressed unease over the request. They consider it unusual for a “foreign investigating judge to request a visit to the National Court with police officers from her own country to examine documentation protected by state secrecy” after access had already been refused.

The document examined by this newspaper does not include the National Court’s response, although the Spanish judiciary had already rejected the proposal.