Cospedal instructs Jesús Santos on her defence in Kitchen case

Former Minister of the Spanish Government and CMS Spain partner María Dolores de Cospedal is being represented by Baker McKenzie White-collar Crime and Criminal Litigation partner Jesús Santos

Manuel García-Castellón, judge in the Villarejo case, has charged María Dolores de Cospedal (pictured right), former Minister of Defense and former secretary-general of the Partido Popular party (PP), along with her husband, businessman Ignacio López del Hierro, in the cause by the plot codenamed “Operation Kitchen”, hatched in 2013 on the alleged espionage of the former treasurer of the PP Luis Bárcenas, with the supposed objective of snatching compromising documentation for senior positions in the conservative party after the Bárcenas papers scandal broke out.

The magistrate of the National Court has made this decision after the request of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, which requested to question both in September of last year.

Iberian Lawyer has confirmed that Baker Mckenzie Criminal Law head partner and former Prosecutor Jesús Santos (pictured left), who has represented PP in various cases, will be in charge of Cospedal´s defence.

Jesús Santos is a partner and head of Baker McKenzie’s Criminal Litigation department since 2012, and a judge on leave of absence since 1985, when he began his career as a Public Prosecutor. In 1989 he joined the National High Court and was later appointed as Assistant Prosecutor and acting Head Prosecutor. Among the highlights of his long professional career, it is worth mentioning his participation in numerous litigations for socio-economic crimes and his international profile thanks to his functions as a consultant for the United Nations, the International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia and his appointment from 2004 to 2011 as Liaison Magistrate with the Republic of Italy. He has also excelled in investigations related to Islamic terrorism, where he was appointed coordinator of the group of specialists of the Prosecutor’s Office on Islamic terrorism in May 2004.

Santos was ranked number two on Iberian Lawyer´s Top ten White-Collar Crime lawyers in Spain ranking published in November 2020

Cospedal joined CMS Albiñana & Suárez de Lezo as a Litigation & Arbitration partner in January 2020 and joined its Board of Directors on November 2020.

Desire Vidal

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