Leire Díez's tentacles: who did she meet with and who did she exchange messages with?

MadridLeire Díez has been under the scrutiny of the National High Court for days for allegedly orchestrating – and with the hand of Santos Cerdán – an structure to derail the judicial cases of Pedro Sánchez's circle. The investigation will take another step from next week with the declaration of lawyer Jacobo Teijelo as investigated and a battery of 24 witnesses who will begin to parade before Santiago Pedraz. According to the judge, what the so-called plumber of the PSOE did was to offer "remunerations or favors" in exchange for information or actions that would help to torpedo investigations uncomfortable for the socialists. Some of her interlocutors believed that what she was telling them was "fantastical," a "waste of time," or an "intrigue," even though Leire Díez boasted of having the capacity to maneuver in high instances to achieve her goals. Where did the tentacles she claimed to have reach?

Two meetings with the right-hand man of the State Attorney General

Last week, the State Attorney General's Office acknowledged two meetings between Leire Díez and Jacobo Teijelo with Álvaro García Ortiz's right-hand man as Deputy Prosecutor of the Technical Secretariat: Diego Villafañe. That said, prosecutorial sources emphasized that "no action" was taken in this regard. The prosecutor of the Technical Secretariat, Beatriz López, also participated in the first meeting. Leire Díez presented that meeting as the "most important" day of her professional life: "It could make the president directly adore me," she confessed to Vicente Fernández, former president of SEPI and also under investigation. Just this Friday, the current Attorney General, Teresa Peramato, defended the public prosecutor's office: "It has been suggested that the prosecutor's office may be at the service of a criminal plot. To me, it seems that this is an absolute lack of respect for the institution," she stated at the Senate Justice Committee. "Saying so is putting the daily work [of prosecutors] in harm's way," she added.

The plumber from PSOE also boasted about having access to the high spheres of the Prosecutor's Office. Thus, for example, she assured José Manuel Villarejo's lawyer that the State Attorney General would receive him and told prosecutor Ignacio Stampa that Álvaro García Ortiz would know "at some point" that they had met. And another message: "If the Attorney General supports a minimum, I think we can start to harvest," lawyer Ismael Oliver told her in March 2025.

Likewise, her roadmap aimed to get closer to two prosecutors she had in her sights: José Grinda and Ignacio Stampa. The first met once with journalist Pere Rusiñol –charged in the Madrid courts–, who allegedly offered him a position abroad and a financial payment –300,000 euros, according to Leire Díez's diaries– in exchange for ending some investigations, and once with the former president of Barça Sandro Rosell. And the second met with Leire Díez once and had a call with her, who offered him to be reinstated in the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and to resolve his lawsuits with the administration. But none of this bore fruit.

Meetings with the Civil Guard

The main link of the Guardia Civil with Leire Díez is Mercedes González, who heads the armed institute. According to the UCO, she met with Leire Díez three times. The director of the Guardia Civil says they were mere coffees, she only admits to two meetings, she states that she never participated in "any conspiracy" against the UCO and maintains that Díez did not ask her to "either stop or hinder" any investigation. However, she does not clarify whether they exchanged messages when she already knew about her maneuvers internally. A memo from the Guardia Civil pointed out that Leire Díez boasted of having "absolute control" over her and in a meeting the then PSOE militant said they had a relationship of "trust".

The summary of the Leire case also includes three more names. The first is Manuel Llamas, deputy operational director of the Civil Guard. A report from the UCO reveals that in 2024 he indicated to investigators that they should "stay out of the way" and be unproactive in cases with political implications. However, his relationship with the investigated operation is neither clear nor defined. Likewise, Leire Díez wanted to ally herself with Commander Rubén Villalba, who is being investigated in the Koldo case, to whom she offered to pay his defense, make him an advisor to Mercedes González, or a posting in Rome in exchange for information to carry out a "purge" in the Civil Guard, and with Captainfirst meeting at Ferraz, on April 26, 2024

Leire Díez also allegedly had allies at Ferraz. There are two names under the judge's microscope, who believes they may have helped in "specific and isolated" incidents. Juan Francisco Serrano is a deputy in Congress and was Santos Cerdán's right-hand man. He participated in the first meeting at Ferraz on April 26, 2024, and allegedly acted as an intermediary to place the woman who denounced prosecutor José Grinda in a public company. Juan Manuel Serrano is the president of Correos and was Pedro Sánchez's chief of staff before he moved to Moncloa. The Guardia Civil speaks of his "relevance" in the "genesis" of the alleged scheme and in the "monitoring" of actions. The main UCO report contains a series of messages between him and Leire Díez. "The boss will put us on an altar," she even told him.

The president of the PSOE, Cristina Narbona, spoke with Leire Díez via WhatsApp the day the investigation into Begoña Gómez became known, and on July 10 she will have to testify as a witness. The PSOE's plumber asked to "redirect" the attacks against Pedro Sánchez. The PSOE manager, Ana María Fuentes, is under investigation for document forgery. The Guardia Civil alleges that she "falsified two professional order notes" in the offices of two of the lawyers to "simulate a professional relationship" and be able to use the funds to finance the alleged scheme. The latest report points out that everything she did was allegedly on Santos Cerdán's initiative.

There are two PSOE employees who also appear in the summary: Celia Rodriguez and Covadonga San Pedro Pascual. The UCO maintains that they were "in charge of managing some of Leire Díez's needs" in terms of "transport, travel, or expenses." The latter, for example, booked her plane and train tickets – there are emails to prove it – and authorized her to park at the Ferraz premises.