“The judge seized highly sensitive information knowing it had no connection to the crime”

This is the first investigative procedure adopted by Hurtado in the context of the investigation into an alleged crime of disclosure of confidential data linked to the ongoing tax crimes case against businessman Alberto González Amador, associate of the president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso.

On October 16, the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court opened a trial against García Ortiz and the Attorney General of Madrid, Pilar Rodríguez, to find out if they were the ones who leaked to the press the emails that González Amador’s defense sent to The prosecutor’s office responsible for economic crimes recognized that he had “certainly” committed two tax frauds.

The number two of the Public Prosecutor’s Office presented a difficult station in which he criticizes Hurtado that his resolutions contain “no reasoning” that justifies the “appropriate, necessary and proportionate nature” of the interference in the phones, tablets and computers of the Attorney General.

In addition, Sánchez Conde criticizes the fact that the Supreme Court instructor, “without any motivation”, extended the seizure of information to “all the documentation” stored on the devices of García Ortiz and Rodríguez for almost eight months “in the case of huge and very sensitive information and relating to a multitude of ongoing criminal investigations, which knowing from the instructor that this had no relation to what was being investigated in this case“.

The lieutenant prosecutor of the Supreme Court – who chose to address the Appeals Chamber directly, Instead of presenting a call for reform before Hurtado himself, he insists that the instructor gave “no explanation” for this “disproportionate interference.”

“For the investigation into an alleged disclosure of an email [el enviado por la defensa de González Amador a la Fiscalía de Delitos Económicos]whose harmfulness or harm to the person concerned is low or non-existent, all documentation stored electronically in official offices has been seized, documentation of enormous importance and the disclosure of which could jeopardize countless ongoing criminal operations or investigationsas well as the institutional agenda of the State Attorney General, knowing his agenda for the investigation that is the subject of this case and without any limits.

Beyond what was requested by the complainant

Sánchez Conde emphasizes that the agreed measure “far exceeds” that requested by González Amador himself.

The lawyer of the Díaz Ayuso couple asked the Supreme Court to access the emails of García Ortiz and Rodríguez which contained text related to the phrase “after studying the matter, and by mutual agreement with Alberto González, I informs you that it is the office which will do it. of this part to achieve criminal compliance, fully recognizing the facts (certainly two crimes were committed against the Public Treasury).

This sentence corresponds to the content of email sent by González Amador’s lawyer to the prosecution of Economic Crimes of Madrid on February 2, 2024, proposing an agreement in accordance with the tax crimes detected by the AEAT and that the Public Prosecutor’s Office will report to the courts the following March 5.

The appeal of the lieutenant prosecutor of the Supreme Court also maintains that Hurtado did not justify “the serious prejudice essential for the classification of the facts as a less serious offense” of revealing secrets.

The instructor “is unaware” – he claims – that the newspaper El Mundo published at 9:20 p.m. on March 13. [es decir, antes del período en el que Hurtado sitúa las sospechas de filtración por parte de la Fiscalía, entre las 22:00 horas y las 23:51 de ese día] A news with false information but in which it was already revealed that the friend of the Madrid president “recognized during the tax audit that he had irregularly included the expenses (…)”.

At 9:20 p.m., neither García Ortiz nor Rodríguez still had access to the emails exchanged between González Amador’s defense and the prosecution for economic crimes. These emails were requested by the Attorney General in order to prepare an informative note to deny the false news from El Mundo according to which the prosecutor had offered González Amador a pact so that he would assume having committed tax crimes, a hoax that is spread to other media. .

At the same time that, as has been proven, Rodríguez and García Ortiz accessed the leaked emails currently under investigation by the Supreme Court, the website La Sexta published that in reality it was the partner of Ayuso who had offered them to The prosecutor’s office admits two tax crimes.

“At 10:10 p.m., the facts allegedly revealed were already public,” the appeal states.

For the lieutenant prosecutor, the resolutions in which the instructor of the Supreme Court ordered the searches in the offices of García Ortiz and Rodríguez do not contain “any indication or well-founded suspicion that would allow the attribution of criminal conduct.” [la revelación del correo] to the accused”.

“The only thing they confirm is that the defendants had access to the mail, unduly disclosed, after having recovered it with other documents to prepare an information note,” he adds.

The appeal indicates that not only the Attorney General and the Attorney General of Madrid had access to this email. Other prosecutors responsible for economic crimes also knew him, the Attorney General of Madrid “and, of course, the other person in the conversation.” [el abogado de González Amador] who is the one who referred it to the person under investigation for tax crimes and all the people around him.