José Manuel Villarejo Pérez (born 3 August 1951) is a Spanish businessman and a former officer in Spain's
National Police Corps
The National Police Corps (, CNP; ; also known simply as the National Police, ) is the national civilian police, police force of Spain. The CNP is mainly responsible for policing urban areas, whilst rural policing is generally the responsibil ...
. He was arrested in 2017. He is accused of involvement in a network of corrupt politicians, businesspeople, police officers and media figures known as the “sewers of state”. His trial started in October 2021. He was sentenced to 19 years in jail in 2024.
Biography
Villarejo was born in 1951 in the Andalusian town of El Carpio, the son of a pharmacist and a midwife. He began his career in
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...
’s military when conscription had been mandatory.
After time in the army, he joined the Social Investigation Brigade of the Spanish
National Police Corps
The National Police Corps (, CNP; ; also known simply as the National Police, ) is the national civilian police, police force of Spain. The CNP is mainly responsible for policing urban areas, whilst rural policing is generally the responsibil ...
in 1972,
assigned to the provincial police station of
San Sebastián
San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (, ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border ...
until 1975, where he was part of the anti-terrorist group and took part in various actions against
ETA
Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...
. He was later assigned to the Citizen Security team of the Prefecture of Madrid, where he remained until 1983. On leave from 1983 to 1993, during these years he devoted himself to business. Villarejo managed up to 46 different companies with a share capital of more than 16 million euros. In 1993 he was reinstated as an operating agent, or undercover agent, in the Secretary of State for the Interior. During his periods of leave and after retiring from the Spanish police, Villarejo carried out several investigative works for companies''—''mainly a detective agency and a law firm. These jobs include research commissioned by public bodies, private entities and individuals.
In the mid-1990s, he participated in the preparation of the Véritas report, commissioned by the
Spanish Ministry of the Interior led by
José Luis Corcuera (
PSOE
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources:
*
*
*
* List of political parties in Spain, political party ...
) and coordinated by Enrique de Federico, Commissioner of Judicial Police, in which he collected data on the private lives of judges such as
Baltasar Garzón
Baltasar Garzón Real (; born 26 October 1955) is a Spanish former judge in Spain's central criminal court, the '' Audiencia Nacional'' responsible for investigation the most serious criminal cases, including terrorism, organised crime, crimes ...
, politicians, journalists and businessmen such as
Javier de la Rosa.
Since 2014, Villarejo has been involved in several criminal cases against
Félix Sánz Roldán for disclosure of secrets, membership in a criminal organization and money laundering. Villarejo is also charged in a Madrid court with crimes of disclosure of secrets and membership in a criminal organization in the process of searching for a separate piece of the ''Pequeño Nicolás'', for alleged illegal recording, manipulation and dissemination of a conversation between police officers and members of the Spanish intellicence organization, the
National Intelligence Center. In February 2017, to avoid prosecution, Villarejo leaked information to the press about the Spanish King
Juan Carlos
Juan Carlos I (; Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 November 1975 until his abdication on 19 June 2014. In Sp ...
and the National Intelligence Center. He also threatened to leak more information if he was not removed from the process.
In early 2019, José Manuel Villarejo sent a letter to Pedro Sánchez, Spain's
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
, accusing Sanz Roldan of threatening certain judges of the
National Court with data of their privacy so that they stop investigating issues that affect the
CNI. He also accused him of working against the interests of Spain by supporting Venezuelan interests or allowing the leaks about the Spanish royal family.
He was also accused of recording conversations with businesspeople in secret, which he would later use to blackmail them.
Other accusations against Roldan made by Villarejo has been to protect emeritus king
Juan Carlos I
Juan Carlos I (; Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 November 1975 until Abdication of Juan Carlos I, his abdic ...
by threatening and bribing
Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn
Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn (''née'' Larsen; born 28 January 1964) is a Danish-German entrepreneur.
Early life
Corinna Larsen was born on 28 January 1964 in Frankfurt, Germany to a German mother, Ingrid Sauer, and a Danish father, Finn ...
, a former lover of the monarch, who supposedly hides critical information for the former king of Spain. All these accusations have been denied by Sanz Roldán and the CNI.
According to a document reviewed by the BBC, Villarejo also asserts that agents from the CNI "instructed me to gain Princess Corinna's trust in order to recover especially sensitive documents she held".
Regarding the Catalonia independence movement, Villarejo testified before a notary that he was the author of several reports of
Operation Catalonia
Operation Catalonia (''Operació Catalunya'' in Catalan) is the name of a covert police operation allegedly driven by the government of Spain which aimed to curb the Catalan independence process. The operation consisted of research and informa ...
, a maneuver by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior to curb
independence in Catalonia. The recording of the wiretaps was leaked by Police Commissioner Marcelino Martín-Blas.
In Jan 2022, Villarejo claimed at the Spanish High Court that the National Intelligence Service (CNI) was involved in the terrorist attacks in
Barcelona and Cambrils in August 2017. "I continued to work with the CNI until the last day. I worked with them to try to fix the mess of the famous attack by the Imam of Ripoll, which in the end was a serious mistake by Sanz Roldán, who miscalculated the consequences of making a small scare action in Catalonia", he stated.
In 2024, Villarejo was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Villarejo, José Manuel
Prisoners and detainees of Spain
Spanish businesspeople
Spanish prisoners and detainees
Spanish police officers
1951 births
Living people
People from the Province of Córdoba (Spain)