PSOE officials distance the Prosecutor's Office and the Moncloa Palace from the leak about Ayuso's boyfriend
The testimony of three journalists also does not clarify its origin
MadridWhich the origin of the leak of confidential information What about the tax fraud case involving Isabel Díaz Ayuso's partner? The key question in the case against Álvaro García Ortiz also failed to receive a conclusive answer in the third session of the trial. Two PSOE officials have distanced both the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Moncloa Palace (the Prime Minister's office) from the leak of the email dated February 2, 2024, in which Alberto González Amador's former lawyer, Carlos Neira, proposed a plea bargain to economic crimes prosecutor Julián Salto, which would have involved pleading guilty. Former Moncloa advisor Pilar Sánchez Acera, currently the second-in-command of the Madrid PSOE, was one of the most prominent witnesses on Wednesday. She was called to testify because on the morning of March 14, 2024, the day after the leak, she forwarded a screenshot of the leaked email to the former leader of the Madrid Socialists, Juan Lobato.
Sánchez Acera denied that the Public Prosecutor's Office sent her the screenshot. "It came to me from a journalist whose media outlet I can't recall," she asserted. The PSOE's organizational secretary stated that she doesn't know anyone at the State Attorney General's Office and that, apart from Lobato, she didn't forward the image to anyone else. Sánchez Acera also refuted the attempt by the current lawyer for the Madrid president's partner, Gabriel Rodríguez-Ramos, to present this exchange of messages between Madrid PSOE officials as a strategy orchestrated from Moncloa Palace. Lobato, who testified just before, also denied this theory.
The former leader of the Madrid PSOE also spoke that morning with Francesc Vallès, the former Secretary of Communication at La Moncloa, who, in a statement yesterday in the same courtroom, denied having sent orders to Lobato or having had any contact with the State Attorney General's Office. Lobato confirmed that he did not receive instructions from Vallès and that if he spoke with him, it was to try to find out the origin of the screenshot of the email that Sánchez Acera had sent him. He didn't succeedGonzález Amador's lawyer has seized upon a message sent by Lobato to Sánchez Acera to also point the finger at the Prosecutor's Office.
"Has the letter been published anywhere? If not, it seems like the Prosecutor's Office gave it to me."“Why did the former leader of the Madrid PSOE ask the former advisor at Moncloa Palace when Sánchez Acera asked her that morning to show the document she had forwarded to him during the Madrid Assembly plenary session, in which Lobato was to question Ayuso. The former advisor said the document also proved that the Madrid president had “twisted the truth.” Lobato explained her reluctance to make it public because she believed “it could be interpreted that the Prosecutor’s Office might have an interest in disseminating it” and that it “could reach her through that channel.” However, the now-senator denied having any “suspicion.” “What I had was prudence,” she said. Coinciding with the start of the judicial investigation by the Attorney General, Lobato registered the messages she exchanged that morning on the matter with a notary, as she stated, to protect herself.
The black hole of journalistic sources
Three journalists testified this morning, and three more will testify this afternoon. None have provided an answer regarding the source of the leak. The journalist fromThe WorldEsteban Urreiztieta was the one who published the first erroneous version about the plea agreement, incorrectly attributing the initiative to the public prosecutor's office. This version was refuted by the leak of the February 2nd email, which made it clear that the situation had been reversed, and by a press release from the Prosecutor's Office. "The information was not intended to cause harm." the prestige of the Public Prosecutor's Office"Urreiztieta asserted, denying any ulterior motive behind the publication. The journalist fromThe WorldHe asserted that he did not have access to the February 2nd email and justified his decision by stating that he compiled the published version from various sources he refused to reveal. "If we had had access to more emails, we would have published them," he affirmed.
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, chief of staff to Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and Alberto González Amador, the Madrid president's partner, admitted in yesterday's statements who spoke with Urreiztieta on the same day as its publication, but denied being the sources of the information about the agreement.