Audiencia Nacional Pío García-Escudero, citado a declarar en el juicio de Gürtel El presidente del Senado acudirá como testigo para explicar la financiación en su etapa como líder del PP de Madrid

DANIEL CABALLERO Madrid Actualizado: 05/07/2017 13:02h Enviar noticia por correo electrónico Tu nombre * Tu correo electrónico * Su correo electrónico *

El juicio a la trama Gürtel contará con dos testigos de gran relevancia política para esclarecer la financiación del PP de Madrid. Tras confirmarse la citación a Mariano Rajoy para el próximo 26 de julio, ahora el tribunal ha accedido a la petición del acusado Guillermo Ortega, exalcalde de Majadahonda, de citar a Pío García-Escudero, presidente del Senado, como testigo.

El presidente del Senado no acude a testificar por el puesto que ocupa actualmente sino por su etapa como presidente del Partido Popular de Madrid. Dicha etapa corresponde a la franja temporal comprendida entre los años 1993 y 2004, momento en que Esperanza Aguirre ocupó su puesto al frente de los populares en la capital.

La citación a García-Escudero se enmarca dentro de la decisión aprobada por mayoría, no por unanimidad, del tribunal de Gürtel para que aclare cuál era el «modus operandi» a la hora de financiarse del PP regional.

El tribunal no ha fijado una fecha exacta para la declaración de Pío García-Escudero aunque sí ha desvelado que podría darse el próximo 19 de julio, sin confirmación todavía oficial de la fecha, la cual será notificada en los días siguientes a los citados en Gürtel como testigos.

El nombre de Pío García-Escudero no será el único que aparecerá como testigo en Gürtel previsiblemente el día 19. El tribunal ha decidido citar a otras personalidades y exaltos cargos del PP de Madrid como Ricardo Romero de Tejada, quien fuera secretario general popular de 1996 a 2004 y alcalde de Majadahonda durante más de 20 años, condenado además por el caso de las tarjetas «black».

Otro de los citados como testigo ha sido José Manuel Fernández Norniella, excoordinador regional popular de las campañas electorales entre 1999 y 2005, y también condenado por las tarjetas black. A su vez, acudirán a Gürtel ese mismo día la exdiputada del PP Carmen Rodríguez Flores y el exconcejal de este mismo partido Jorge Barbadillo, un viejo conocido de la justicia.

La petición de estas testificales por parte del abogado de Guillermo Ortega obedecen a que cree que pueden «aclarar cuál era la operativa de financiación de los distintos distritos y municipios, así como de la regional del PP de Madrid», en el marco todo ello de que se le atribuye a su representado la financiación ilegal del PP de Majadahonda.</s>Sally Yates to testify at May 8 Senate hearing

(CNN) -- Former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates is set to testify May 8 before a Senate judiciary investigation into Russia's interference in last year's elections, her second congressional hearing at which she's scheduled to testify within the span of a week.

Yates' appearance before the Sen. Lindsey Graham-led Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism would mark her second time when the former Obama appointee has been called to the Hill to testify on Russia's meddling. Yates has been invited to testify before the House intelligence committee May 2, in a high-profile public hearing.

Yates was originally expected to tell lawmakers last month about phone calls between President Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. But House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes abruptly postponed that hearing as part of a maneuver with the White House, which ultimately ended in him stepping away from the Russia investigation two weeks later and becoming the subject of a House ethics probe himself.

The Washington Post reported last month that the White House sought to block Yates' testimony, attorney-client and presidential communications privileges -- but White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump had no objection to Yates testifying.

The House and Senate intelligence committees have been running the primary investigations into Russia's meddling in the election and possible coordination with Trump campaign aides. But other investigators, including Graham, have been probing those connections as well.</s>SUDBURY, Ont. — Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault says he will testify at the trial of two Liberals facing bribery charges under the Election Act.

Premier Kathleen Wynne said earlier this week that she has been asked to be a Crown witness and will waive her parliamentary privilege in order to testify.

Thibeault says he is also on the list of Crown witnesses and he too will waive parliamentary privilege to testify.

The trial for Pat Sorbara, the premier's former deputy chief of staff, and Liberal fundraiser Gerry Lougheed, is set to begin Sept. 7.</s>US President Donald Trump’s eldest son and a former campaign manager will testify before Congress next week, a Senate panel announced Wednesday, in what could be a crucial step in the ongoing Trump-Russia investigation.

 Donald Trump Jr and Paul Manafort are scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee next Wednesday at 10 am (1400 GMT). —APP</s>Kathleen Wynne will testify as a Crown witness at an upcoming Election Act bribery trial for two Liberals, putting the Ontario premier directly in the spotlight of an already politically charged case.

Wynne could invoke parliamentary privilege to avoid testifying, but will not, she said Tuesday.

“I will testify, I will go along with the process and do what I can to clarify, as I have in the legislature many, many, many times,” she said.

Pat Sorbara, the premier’s former deputy chief of staff, faces two bribery charges under the Election Act, and Gerry Lougheed, a Liberal fundraiser, faces one charge. Their trial is set to start Sept. 7 and last several weeks. That could mean a verdict is delivered just months before the June 2018 election.

The pair is accused of offering a would-be candidate, Andrew Olivier, a job or appointment to get him to step aside in a 2015 byelection in Sudbury, for Wynne’s preferred candidate, Glenn Thibeault.

At the time, Thibeault was a New Democrat MP. He is now the energy minister.

Though Wynne is being called as a witness by the Crown, she has said that she had already decided Olivier would not be the byelection candidate and as a result there was no need to offer him anything in exchange for not running.

Sorbara and Lougheed both deny the charges.

Lougheed had been charged criminally, with one count of counselling an offence not committed and one count of unlawfully influencing or negotiating appointments, but those charges were stayed last year.

The investigation was sparked by recordings made by Olivier, who was the Liberal candidate in Sudbury during the 2014 general election. As a quadriplegic man who often records his conversations in lieu of taking notes, Olivier recorded chats he had with Sorbara and Lougheed. Technical difficulties prevented him from recording a call he had with Wynne herself.

The bribery section of the Election Act says no person shall directly or indirectly “give, procure or promise or agree to procure an office or employment to induce a person to become a candidate, refrain from becoming a candidate or withdraw his or her candidacy.”

A conviction under the bribery section of the Election Act carries a penalty of up to $5,000. If a judge finds it was broken “knowingly,” the penalty is a fine of up to $25,000 and/or up to two years less a day in jail.

When the charges were laid in November, Sorbara had recently taken a leave of absence as the premier’s deputy chief of staff to become the Ontario Liberal Party CEO and 2018 campaign director. She stepped down after being charged.

When asked Tuesday if she would welcome Sorbara back to work in her office if she was acquitted, Wynne said she looked forward to the opportunity to work with Sorbara again.

A second Liberal trial is set to start just days apart in Toronto.

David Livingston and Laura Miller, who were then-premier Dalton McGuinty’s chief of staff and deputy chief of staff, face charges of breach of trust, and mischief in relation to data and misuse of a computer system to commit the offence of mischief.

They were charged after a police investigation into the deletion of emails about the Liberals’ decision to cancel two gas plants prior to the 2011 election, at a cost of up to $1.1 billion.

Both Miller and Livingston have denied the charges. Their trial is scheduled the trial for six weeks starting Sept. 11.</s>SUDBURY, Ont. — Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault says he will testify at the trial of two Liberals facing bribery charges under the Election Act.

Premier Kathleen Wynne said earlier this week that she has been asked to be a Crown witness and will waive her parliamentary privilege in order to testify.

Thibeault says he is also on the list of Crown witnesses and he too will waive parliamentary privilege to testify.

The trial for Pat Sorbara, the premier’s former deputy chief of staff, and Liberal fundraiser Gerry Lougheed, is set to begin Sept. 7.

The pair is accused of offering a would-be candidate, Andrew Olivier, a job or appointment to get him to step aside in a 2015 byelection in Sudbury, Ont., for Thibeault — who was an NDP MP at the time and Wynne’s preferred candidate.

Sorbara and Lougheed both deny the charges.</s>KELOWNA — A key witness in the Jonathan Bacon murder trial admitted Thursday he wasn’t very close to one of the alleged killers in the months before the shooting.

The witness said he was friendly with Michael Jones in 2010, but the relationship waned the following year.

“Not so much, no,” the witness said under cross-examination when asked by defence counsel if there was much contact between himself and Jones in 2011.

The witness also admitted he had not told police about all the crimes he’d committed before striking a limited immunity deal that led to his agreeing to testify at Bacon’s murder trial, being heard in Kelowna.

These unacknowledged crimes, court heard, included arranging a break-in, receiving money he knew to be the proceeds of crime, drug offences and offering bribes to police.

“These are all crimes that you never told the police about?” defence counsel asked the witness.

“Correct,” said the witness, who cannot be identified because of a publication ban.
• Bacon murder trial: Accused killer told friend he torched his own car
• Bacon murder trial: DNA on discarded hoodie does not appear to match suspects'

It was in June 2016 that the witness began talking to police about what he knew about Jones, one of three men charged with murdering Bacon outside the Delta Grand hotel on Aug. 14, 2011.

Under cross-examination, the witness said he offered more details of his years-long relationship with Jones, which included many criminal activities, on subsequent meetings with police.

“It was a span of many years. I tried to remember everything I could,” the witness said.

However, the witness said he couldn’t recall the specific dates of crimes, such as rip-offs of marijuana growing operations, that he had earlier testified he¹d engaged in with Jones.

On Tuesday, the witness said Jones had told him he had burned his own Ford Explorer. A Ford Explorer used as the getaway vehicle after Bacon’s murder was found torched in Lake Country.

Under cross-examination, the witness was asked if anyone else was present when Jones made this statement in an underground parking garage. He said he couldn’t recall.

Jones, Jason McBride and Jujhar Khun-Khun are charged with first-degree murder and four counts of attempted murder.</s>Manafort Will Not Testify In Open Senate Judiciary Panel Hearing

Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign chairman, reached a deal Tuesday with the Judiciary Committee to provide information to the panel. He will not testify in an open hearing.</s>Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says she will testify at the trial of two Liberals facing bribery charges under the Election Act.

The trial for Pat Sorbara, the premier’s former deputy chief of staff, and Liberal fundraiser Gerry Lougheed, is set to begin in September.

The pair is accused of offering a would-be candidate, Andrew Olivier, a job or appointment to get him to step aside in a 2015 byelection in Sudbury, Ont., for Glenn Thibeault.

At the time, Thibeault was a New Democrat MP. He is now the energy minister.

Sorbara and Lougheed both deny the charges.

Wynne says she could use parliamentary privilege to avoid testifying at the trial but will not be doing so.

“ I will testify, I will go along with the process and do what I can to clarify,” said Wynne who has maintained that the Liberals were just trying to keep Olivier in the party fold, and that there was no need to offer him anything because she had already decided he would not be the byelection candidate.

“ I’ve been very clear that I was going to work with the process and I’ve done that and I will continue to do that,” Wynne said Tuesday.

When asked if she would welcome Sorbara back to work in her office if she was acquitted, Wynne said she looked forward to the opportunity to work with Sorbara again.</s>But they can only block him for so long. He’s expected to be back tomorrow. Fusion GPS of course was hired by a Democratic ally of Hillary Clinton to smear Trump during the campaign and they came up with the dirty dossier.

Senate Democrats used a parliamentary maneuver Wednesday to cut short a high-profile hearing, where a key witness was set to testify on Russia’s misdeeds and also raise fresh allegations against the company behind the infamous anti-Trump dossier.

Bill Browder, the CEO and co-founder of Hermitage Capital, was set to tell the Senate Judiciary Committee that the co-founder of the firm Fusion GPS was hired to conduct a “smear campaign” against him. Further, he planned to testify the campaign was orchestrated by Natalia Veselnitskaya — the Russian attorney who sought the highly scrutinized Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort in June 2016.

Browder released written testimony ahead of the hearing but his public remarks were delayed when Democrats invoked the “two-hour rule” to protest Republican efforts to repeal ObamaCare. The seldom-used rule bars committees from meeting more than two hours after the full Senate begins a session.
Pío García-Escudero, the President of the Senate also testify as a witness in the same investigation.