A scam boyfriend, an Ayuso prank and an email leaked to the media. These are the three ingredients of an unprecedented investigation which opened this Wednesday Supreme Court against the Attorney General of the State, Álvaro García Ortiz. All for an alleged crime of revealing secrets that the head of the public prosecutor’s office allegedly committed by disclosing an email between the Madrid public prosecutor’s office and the defense of the partner of the president of the Community of Madrid, Alberto González Amador. Although it is currently unknown who transmitted these messages to the press, the evolution of this unprecedented matter is clear. This is the timeline.
It all started a few months ago, when the Madrid Regional Prosecutor’s Office presented the February 7 of a complaint against the partner of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and five other people, for one crime of tax evasion and another of falsification of commercial documents. This follows a long investigation opened after the Treasury detected suspicious movements in the companies of González Amador, accused of fraud hundreds of thousands of euros.
It was not until more than a month later that the news reached the public and began to make headlines. It was then that the Madrid president and her cabinet inaugurated a defense strategy of dubious morality. First, it was Ayuso who, just hours after hearing the news, reported that It’s “a wild tax audit” against their partner in order to “destabilize” them. He even went so far as to call the matter a “murky affair involving all the powers of the state.”
Rather, it was his chief of staff, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, better known as MAR, who spread the big hoax. The popular maintained that it was the Public Ministry that had offered a pact of conformity to González Amador. False information that ‘El Mundo’ echoed by publishing an email that the prosecutor specializing in economic crimes Julián Salto sent to the lawyer of Ayuso’s boyfriend, Carlos Neira.
In this email, Salto explained to the defense lawyer that “it will not be an obstacle to reaching an agreement if you and your client deem it possible” the fact that “other people have been denounced”. In the eyes of Ayuso and his advisors, the offer from the Public Prosecutor’s Office – false – This amounted to political blackmail.
It is true that the prosecutor is writing these lines, but the information published by ‘El Mundo’ appears decontextualized. As laSexta was able to confirm on March 13 and 14 at midnight, after ‘La Ser’ advanced the information with some texts, it was González Amador’s lawyer who, in an e-mail previously sent to the public prosecutor’s office of Madrid, said admits to the commission of two crimes on the part of his client and proposes an agreement to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Faced with media pressure, while all the journalists tried to confirm the truth in all the confusion, the Madrid public prosecutor’s office itself is forced to issue a statement on the morning of March 14. In this writing he summarizes what has happened since January 23, when the Economic Crimes Section of the Madrid Provincial Prosecutor’s Office opened proceedings on this matter – following a written complaint from the tax administration – until March 12.
That day, the document points out, “the prosecutor in charge of the case sent the complaint by email to González Amador’s lawyer ‘to facilitate his right to defense’.” In this email, Salto also reiterates that “the existence of other people reported in this procedure does not constitute an obstacle to criminal compliance.” This is a misrepresented email.
Following this declaration and a few days later – March 18 – the The Madrid Bar Association (ICAM) announces the presentation of a complaint against the public prosecutor’s office for crimes of violation of the secrecy and inviolability of the custody of the document. A few days later, it was González Amador who also complained against the Public Prosecutor’s Office and before the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM).
Already in May the magistrate Francisco José Goyena of the TSJM accepts this complaintthat In July, he sent to the Supreme Court since the investigation carried out pointed the finger at the attorney general of the state. They argued that “the note [de la Fiscalía Provincial de Madrid] It could have had another format and content which would not violate the duty of confidentiality which had to be respected. » In this sense, the investigating judge considered that the information given “exceeded” that which had been published by the media.
Today, this same Wednesday, we learn that the Supreme Court unanimously admitted the indictment of the State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, and the Attorney General of Madrid, Pilar Rodríguez Fernández. A decision which is taken, yes, under the thesis of The prosecution has already rejected the accusation against García Ortiz.
In this sense, the High Court considers that the publication of the press release, as well as its content, does not entail the commission of any crime, since “there is no information unduly disclosed, taking into account public knowledge of the facts”. However, he points out that “a few hours before the release of the press release”, the emails between Prosecutor Salto and Lawyer Neira “were revealed, being in the possession of the Attorney General of the State and the Attorney General of the Province.”
In short, the crime is no longer found around the statement of the prosecution against which González Amador and ICAM complained, but in who leaked these emails electronic communications between the public prosecutor’s office and the legal defense. A question that will not be easy to clarify since the first email dated February 2 that Neira sends and in which he recognizes the crimes committed by his client and proposes an agreement comes to light. a generic email from the economic crimes section of the Prosecutor’s Officewhich is then transmitted to the provincial prosecutor’s office, the regional prosecutor’s office and the general prosecutor’s office.
This extreme means that these emails were in the hands of around thirty people. If we add to this the fact that the journalists receiving these emails can benefit from the right to information and professional secrecy It will be difficult to know who leaked the email and therefore hold anyone responsible.
Although the accusation of García Ortiz is not strictly official, since he must be summoned by the Superior Court to testify on this condition, it is therefore an imminent and inevitable procedure, the attorney general has ruled out resigning. In a statement released after learning the news, he said that he would continue to lead the institution and that he would open a period of reflection to deal with this situation, for which he summoned the Prosecutor’s Office this Thursday.
