Retired police inspector José Manuel Villarejo has this Thursday told National Audience court judge Diego de Egea that, in his meeting with king Juan Carlos I's alleged former lover, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, he was acting as an envoy of the state to solve the problems between her and the former monarch.
According to court sources, Villarejo stuck by this argument to defend his actions, like the 2015 meeting with Corinna whose contents have been revealed recently. The sources do not reveal, however, whether he has said he was the author or not of the recording of the conversation which was leaked. The case is being held in camera.
Villarejo's testimony lasted a little over an hour. He had been summonsed by the judge after they opened a file in the case to investigate the recordings. He was also to respond to another part of the case in which two police officers, Enrique García Castaño and Antonio Bonilla, were arrested for allegedly providing documentation and secret details about people under investigation by the retired inspector.
The sources say Villarejo replied to questions from the judge and his defence counsel, but not those from public prosecutor. They also say he spent much longer talking about the matter involving his two former colleagues than that involving Corinna.