(Bloomberg) -- A Spanish law enforcement agency is seeking to investigate the chief prosecutor amid a political scandal involving press leaks and both the national and Madrid regional governments.
A special unit of the Spanish Civil Guard, the country’s largest security force, has asked the Supreme Court for permission to investigate Prosecutor General Alvaro García Ortiz, citing his involvement in leaking the details of a criminal probe.
García Ortiz had “preeminent participation” in a leak to media of a confidential criminal case and should be investigated further, the agency said in a report filed with the top court, a copy of which was seen by Bloomberg News.
The report is based on an analysis of the phone records of another prosecutor and messages exchanged with members of García Ortiz’s team and other prosecutors.
The leaked details involve the partner of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the regional President of Madrid and one of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s fiercest critics. Ayuso’s partner was suspected of tax fraud, and the leaked information — regarding discussions over a possible settlement, was reported by several media publications close to the government. Ayuso has said her partner is the target of a political smear campaign.
Spain’s Supreme Court in October opened an investigation into García Ortiz in connection to the same leaks, in an unprecedented move against a top prosecutor.
As part of that investigation, the Civil Guard went through evidence and concluded that the prosecutor had a clear role in the leaks and is now seeking to expand their investigation to include more messages and devices.
García Ortiz’s office has denied any wrongdoing and says it simply had to issue a press release at the time to clarify false information circulating around the probe.
The government has denounced the Court probe and Sánchez has said the prosecutor was only doing his job.
García Ortiz was named to the top job in 2022. His predecessor and former boss had previously served as Sánchez’s first justice minister.
Sánchez’s six-and-a-half year-old government has been marked by fraught relations with the judiciary, with officials regularly saying there are judges who act out of political motivations and are close to the conservative People’s Party. The opposition, in turn, says Sánchez wants to control the courts and points to García Ortiz as an example, given his proximity to the government.
Sánchez’s government has been hit by several criminal investigations this year, although none have gone to trial and nobody connected to the government has been formally accused so far.
In April, a judge named Sanchez’s wife Begoña Gómez as a suspect in a private-sector corruption investigation, following a complaint by a pressure group with links to the far-right and based on press clippings. The government says Gómez has not done anything wrong and has said that the judge is conducting an investigation without any evidence to back such a probe.
The Spanish judicial system has a unique feature called “popular accusations” which allows third-parties to file criminal complaints. This system is widely used by political parties and pressure groups to target rivals.
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