PP calls for resignations over 'state crime' as PSOE fixer recordings reveal offers of favours to judges and police
Recordings seized from a former PSOE militant show her offering protection and prosecution deals to a former security chief and an ex-Guardia Civil captain, triggering calls from the opposition for the interior minister and the Guardia Civil director to resign.
The recordings
Recordings seized by the Guardia Civil from former PSOE militant Leire Díez reveal a series of meetings in 2024 where she offered benefits in exchange for information. In two encounters on 15 and 22 July 2024 with Francisco Martínez, the former secretary of state for security under Mariano Rajoy, Díez presented herself as an envoy of the PSOE and the government.
She told Martínez she had the "best interlocutors in this world" and that "the best way to get things done and reach an agreement is to be nothing."Obviously the intention of everything is to clean up, okay? I'm not here for anything other than to clean up.
Díez offered Martínez a pact with the prosecution service to avoid prison. The prosecutor is seeking 15 years against him in the Kitchen case, the alleged parapolice operation to spy on former PP treasurer Luis Bárcenas between 2013 and 2015. Martínez acknowledged during the meetings that payments were made to the former partner of Jordi Pujol Jr for information, and that those payments continued for months after Fernando Grande-Marlaska arrived at the interior ministry.
The UCO captain
On 10 December 2024, several members of the alleged network met in a Madrid office with former UCO captain Juan Yepes, who is also under investigation by the Audiencia Nacional for revealing secrets, bribery and crimes against state institutions. Yepes warned that "UCO names are secret, by law" and that if published "they'll crush me." Díez responded by asking for the "five Ws of journalism" — who, how, where, when and why — about senior UCO officers.
She claimed Mercedes González, the director, was someone she could trust.My next conversation is going to be with the director of the Guardia Civil.
The parking fine
A parking fine and an email have revealed one of the meetings between Díez and González. On 20 December 2024, Díez drove to the meeting in a car belonging to Vicente Fernández, the former president of the State Society for Industrial Participations (SEPI), who is also under investigation. Fernández forwarded a traffic fine email to Díez, writing: "I received this parking fine for you on Julián Romea street. I think it's from when you went to meet with the Director General of the Guardia Civil." The street is adjacent to the Guardia Civil headquarters. The minister of the interior had repeatedly denied that any such meetings took place.
PP response
The PP held a press conference on Thursday where deputy secretary Alma Ezcurra described the affair as "state crime."
The PP demanded the resignation of Mercedes González, interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and Pedro Sánchez himself. Ezcurra called Sánchez either "incompetent" if he did not know what was happening or a "criminal" if he did, adding that the latter was "most likely."What we have seen is a power that has confused the government with the party, the party with the family, the family with the state and the state with Pedro Sánchez.
With the mafia there is no loyalty worth anything.
Inside the Guardia Civil
Sources within the Guardia Civil describe a state of alert and concern about reprisals from the interior ministry now that the summary has exposed alleged interference. The worry extends beyond political impact to the institutional image of the force. The Guardia Civil relies on a perception of absolute political neutrality, and any suspicion about the independence of its investigators risks projecting onto the entire organisation.
They are waiting for Marlaska's revenge.
The PP has not registered formal requests for appearances, arguing that Spain no longer wants explanations but "ballot boxes to begin a national reconstruction as soon as possible."
- Santos Cerdán tasks Leire Díez with neutralising judicial cases affecting the PSOE and Pedro Sánchez's circle
- Díez holds first recorded meeting with Francisco Martínez, offering a prosecution pact
- Second recorded meeting with Martínez; he reveals payments to Pujol Jr's ex-partner continued after Marlaska took office
- Díez meets ex-UCO captain Juan Yepes, seeking identities of officers investigating corruption cases
- Parking fine places Díez at a meeting with Guardia Civil director Mercedes González
- PP holds press conference demanding resignations of González, Marlaska and Sánchez
