Prosecutor General of Spain, on the verge of being sent to court, in a case that increases the pressure on the Pedro Sanchez government
Prosecutor General of Spain, Alvaro Garcia Ortiz. CREDIT: Fernando Sã¡nchez / Zuma Press / Profimedia
The highest prosecutor of Spain is Monday closer to being sued in a case of information disclosures that made problems for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, after the Supreme Court decided that it is possible to have violated the obligation of judicial secrets, AFP reports.
Alvaro Garcia Ortiz is suspected of disclosing secret information from a file regarding Isabel Diaz Ayuso's partner, the powerful conservative leader of the Madrid region, one of the multiple controversies that put pressure on the left-wing government of Prime Minority Pedro Sanchez.
In March 2024, the Spanish press revealed a project between prosecutors and businessman Alberto Gonzalez Amador, Ayuso's life partner, who is investigated for an alleged tax fraud. According to the reports that AFP recalls, Amador has proposed an agreement to recognize the guilt to avoid a criminal trial in the case they are facing.
The Popular Party (PP) of the opposition, of which Ayuso also belongs, requested the resignation of Ortiz and accused the Allies of Prime Minister Sanchez of being behind the flow of information in the press.
The Supreme Court of Spain began to investigate Ortiz in October, after a complaint made by Amador, whose company in the sanitary sector registered a vertiginal increase in the Covid-19 Pandemic period.
Ortiz, who was appointed prosecutor general by the Pedro Sanchez government in 2022, claims that he did not disclose information about the Amador.
In a decision consulted Monday by AFP, Angel Luis Hurtado, judge of the Supreme Court, said that there are sufficient evidence to sue Garcia Ortiz.
What did the judge of the Supreme Court say
The judge granted to the parties involved 10 days to present his positions or to submit appeals before deciding whether to send the Attorney General before a criminal court, the last procedural stage before the formal trial.
Hurtado said that Ortiz offered “advertising that should not have been given” to the case by disclosing a “confidential” e-mail to several media institutions.
In addition, the judge mentioned in the decision that he believes that the prosecutor acted “as a result of the indications received from the Government Presidency”.
The Minister of Justice, Felix Bold, expressed his full confidence in Ortiz and firmly denied the charges that the government asked the prosecutor to disclose any e-mail.
“This has never happened and I regret deeply that he made the supreme court such a serious statement without any evidence to support it,” he told reporters.
The case increases the legal and political pressure on Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whose circle of close friends are facing several investigations in progress.
Tens of thousands of people protested in Madrid on Sunday against the Pero Sanchez government, in a demonstration convened by the PP, which requested early elections.
“It is time for the prosecutor-and anyone who gave him the order-to leave,” wrote PP leader, Alberto Nunez Feijoo in a post on X.
