Leire Díez distances herself from the PSOE and Cerdán: "I'm not a plumber, I'm a journalist."

Madrid / BarcelonaLeire Diez, investigated in a Madrid court for bribery and influence peddling, has been the PP's choice to resume, after the summer recess, its crusade in the Senate against the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) for its alleged corruption cases. The former socialist activist appears before the commission of inquiry into the Koldo case and, despite his legal status, has not opted for silence and refutes the accusations from the right and the far right, insisting on the narrative he has deployed since the scandal broke. "I'm not a plumber, I'm a journalist," he asserted, reiterating that he is working on publishing a book about "the malfunctioning of institutions," hence the collection of audio recordings that have been released in which he allegedly interferes in judicial proceedings. Díez claimed that the investigation he has conducted is not to favor the PSOE but in favor of the "rule of law" and denied that he was "well connected" within the party, distancing himself from both the PSOE and former party leader Santos Cerdán.

On the same day that Díez is summoned to the Upper House, more audio recordings of the former activist have appeared, which, in this case, reveal new evidence of the PP's dirty war against the independence movement. Francisco Martínez, former number two to Jorge Fernández Díaz in the Ministry of the Interior, he admits in a conversation with Díez published this Monday in The Country that there were "actions within the police sphere" to "generate cases or bring to light cases of corruption" involving pro-independence leaders and Podemos during Mariano Rajoy's term in office. Martínez, who is being prosecuted in the Kitchen plot and has up to three open cases in court, said this in July 2024 in a meeting with the former socialist militant, in which he acknowledged that "the machine was forced" to obtain information on the Pujol family.

In the commission, Díez insisted that "there is a lot of evidence that there were sewers" in the State and brandished his cell phone number in front of the senators who questioned him to prove it. "I have here an email that was sent by the person in charge of the Ministry of the Interior, acknowledging all the operations that had been ordered to be carried out by a commissioner [referring to José Manuel Villarejo]. We have two million documents and 10,000 audio recordings," he stated. Díez asserted that it is evident that during the term of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, there was a dirty war on the part of the State and denounced the attacks against her as "an attempt to pretend" that there was another cesspool of which she was a part. "I don't know if there is one [a PSOE cesspool], but that I was part of it is not true," she said, arguing that what lies behind the scrutiny she is suffering is to create the impression that there is a "tie" between the PP and the Socialists.

The persecution of the independence movement

Regarding the meeting with the former Secretary of State for Security between 2013 and 2016, according to the published audio recordings, Díez asserts that his intention is to "expose the workings of the police clans" that operated during the PP's mandate. In exchange, he offers Martínez the possibility of reaching an agreement with the Prosecutor's Office and asserts that he speaks on behalf of the PSOE leadership, contrary to what he said in the Senate, where he guaranteed that he "was not accountable to Cerdán" nor was he linked. He also affirmed that he has never spoken with the Socialist leader, Pedro Sánchez. The offer of judicial benefits to those under investigation in exchange for information about police forces is precisely what constitutes a "critical" act. the reason why Diez is being investigated by the courts.

In the conversation, Martínez claims, among other things, that money was paid to Victoria Álvarez, Jordi Pujol Ferrusola's ex-partner, in exchange for information about the former president's family. He goes so far as to add: "[Fernando Grande] Marlaska even paid him when he was minister." From the current Ministry of the Interior, according to sources cited in the news story,The Country, They claim that the payments were "cancelled" as soon as Marlaska took office and found out. According to Díez, the PSOE "made a mistake" in not acting more forcefully against these practices. "[The party] should have done more intensive work to put an end to this," he stated in the Senate in response to ERC.

The relationship with Koldo

In the run-up to Diez's appearance, also The World has published alleged communications between the former PSOE member and Koldo García, the former advisor to Minister José Luis Ábalos. According to the newspaper, Díez contacted him earlier this year via WhatsApp and they arranged a first meeting, during which—always according to this outlet—the Socialist member repeatedly asked him not to implicate Cerdán, then the third-ranking member of the PSOE, in the alleged corruption case.

Díez, who in addition to being a grassroots member also held various public positions at Enusa and Correos, also allegedly asked García what compromising information he had on Socialist officials and expressed his interest in matters that incriminate the top brass of the Civil Guard. "After what they've done to you, destroy them," he allegedly told him. At all times, according to the report, he demanded his discretion in their conversations. Díez has denied the content of the article and denied having met with him "expressly to talk about this."