Fernandez Diaz dissociates himself from the Kitchen case saying he learned about the operation when it was published in the press

Former Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernández Díazsaid on Thursday that he learned from the press of the espionage against former PP treasurer Luis Bárcenas and denied that he ordered any operation to steal compromised information .

This was stated in his statement to the National High Court, which is trying this operation, namely the alleged espionage ordered by the Ministry of the Interior of the Government of Mariano Rajoy to steal information from Bárcena about PP leaders and allegedly obstruct the investigation into an opaque accounting within the party.

The Public Prosecutor's Office has requested 15 years' imprisonment for Fernández Díaz, who has only answered questions from his lawyer and the court, stating that he never ordered any operation against the treasurer to be launched.

He also explained that he did not know that Bárcena could have compromised information for himself or other PP leaders, nor that Sergio Ríos, the driver of the former treasurer charged in the trial, was a confidant of the Spanish National Police.

The former minister has also pointed out that he never spoke to the former deputy operational director of the National Police, Eugenio Pino, who is also charged in the trial, about this "operation" and has stressed that the operational affairs ofthe police "are not part of the competence or responsibility of the Minister of the Interior".

"I heard about that operation when it started to appear inthe media, I hadn't heard about it before, so I didn't talk to anyone, "the lawyer remarked when asked if he had discussed the matter with his next ex, Francisco Martinez.

Fernández Díaz has also stated that he did not send him any messageinforminghim of the cloning of the devices of Francisco Martínez i Bárcena, a copy made by officers of the Central Operational Support Unit of the National Police in a cafeteria in Madrid.

In particular, he argues that, since he was not aware of the facts during the period in which these messages were allegedly sent, he was unable to send any message on the subject to Martinez. Moreover, according to him, "it is illogical" for the minister to inform the Secretary of State, believing that the usual thing is the other way around.

One of the messages, which was reproduced at the oral hearing, was dated October 18 , 2013, and it said, "The operation was done successfully. Everything has been turned (2 iPhones and 1 iPad). Tomorrow we will have the report. According to the informant (we'll see), this material was provided by B to the lawyers so that they could access the phones and other data on the agenda, contact them, prepare their legal defense."

The date of this message, which was displayed at the trial, coincided with the cloning of the contents of several electronic devices of Bárcena, work which, as the officers acknowledged during the trial, was carried out in October 2013 in a café in central Madrid.

Francisco Martínez assured the notary that he had received these messages from Fernández Díaz, however, the computer expert who examined them - who testified at the trial on Fernández Díaz 's proposal - stated that he had detected "signs of manipulation" and couldnot guarantee that the former minister had sent them.

The lawyer also asked him about the management of the reserved funds which, according to the investigators, the alleged plot allegedly paid the driver as a confidant, and Fernández Díaz said that he did not sign "any documents" or authorize any payment.

Finally, the former minister has denied giving orders to Commissioner José Luis Olivera to put pressure on the investigator of the Gürtel plot, Manuel Morocho. "This information is false," he said, claiming that he knew the investigator in that process.