The director of the Civil Guard continued speaking with Leire Díez when she already knew about her maneuvers

MadridOne of the names that appear sprinkled throughout the investigation of the Leire Díez case is Mercedes González, who is Director General of the Civil Guard since September 2024 and who this Tuesday at 4 p.m. is summoned to the Senate. Although – at least until now – she has the full confidence of Pedro Sánchez and Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, the latest report from the Central Operational Unit (UCO) reinforces suspicions about her affinity with the so-called plumber of the PSOE. "Taking advantage of her relationship within the framework of the actions she was carrying out, Leire Díez marked as one of her objectives the carrying out of 'internal investigations' within the Civil Guard directed against the Central Operational Unit'," summarizes the document, to which ARA has had access. Ten days ago, she herself stated that she broke off the relationship with Leire Díez after the second meeting, when she asked her to reinstate Commander Rubén Villalba, who had been removed from the force because he was being investigated in the Koldo case. The document, precisely, includes her testimony: she explained that Leire Díez wanted to carry out a "purge" in the Civil Guard and "eliminate the subversive elements" that were there.

The first relevant date was April 29, 2025, when the Information Directorate of the Civil Guard prepared a dispatch note – an internal communication – to report on the UCO's "discrediting campaign" allegedly carried out by Leire Díez. In other words, before it became public knowledge, the armed institute was already aware of it. A week later, the UCO drafted a second dispatch note with similar content: "Verification of the facts would jeopardize the credibility of the Unit [UCO] and seriously affect members of the corps," it stated. And here lies the crux of the matter: on May 8, the head of the judicial police informed the operational deputy director of the Civil Guard of the advisability of informing the director of the Civil Guard about the internal investigation that had been launched. But the DAO told him that she was aware of it.

The next day, El Confidencial published a story about Koldo García that sparked a conversation between Leire Díez and Leticia de la Hoz, the lawyer for José Luis Ábalos's former advisor. The former PSOE militant told her that she had just sent the link to the director of the Civil Guard: "I just bet a lunch with Mercedes that the leaks are coming from the UCO," she later wrote. But it was not the only communication. 48 hours later, after El Mundo had begun publishing messages between Ábalos and Pedro Sánchez, the director of the Civil Guard activated the automatic deletion of messages every 24 hours in the conversation with Leire Díez. Furthermore, the UCO maintains that a notification that appeared there is "compatible" with having "deleted a previous conversation" and started a new one.

That same day, a little later, there was a high-level meeting in the cafeteria of the General Directorate of the Civil Guard. The Deputy Operational Director wanted to meet with the Head of Weapons, Explosives and Security (JAES) to inform him that he "intended" to open a "reserved information" – that is, an internal investigation – as a result of the leak of Ábalos's messages and that he wanted to assign him the instruction. The UCO takes advantage of the report to recall that they had not yet intervened any of Ábalos's devices and, therefore, the armed institute could not be the origin of the leak. In fact, that same day, José Aníbal, who was his lawyer, also denied it in a message he sent to Leire Díez: "I have just spoken with the client and he tells me that it was not the UCO". Later, it would be known that it was Ábalos who had disseminated it.

The UCO document continues to trace the chronology. On May 14, the DAO acknowledged to the head of the judicial police that he was "clear" that the origin of the leak was not the UCO. Despite this, the investigation continued. And it was not until Leopoldo Puente – the investigating judge of the Koldo case at the Supreme Court – "emphatically" warned the head of the JAES – who had gone to meet with him – that he did not authorize it and that if it went ahead he would open proceedings against those who had authorized and promoted it, that the DAO ordered it to be shelved.

A report on Sánchez's brother

The Civil Guard report also states that in December 2024, the deputy operational director opened an investigation following the inclusion of an email from Begoña Gómez, Pedro Sánchez's wife, in a report on David Sánchez, the brother of the Spanish president. The investigating judge requested the head of the UCO to "verbally reprimand" the analyst who had analyzed the emails. "The DAO reported these conclusions and made them his own," the document finally states.