The National Court charges the director of the Civil Guard for the Leire Díez case

MadridThe National Court indicts the director of the Civil Guard, Mercedes González, in the Leire Díez case and summons her to testify on July 16. She is not the only official of the armed institute that the court considers under suspicion: it also investigates the operational deputy director (DAO) of the corps, Manuel Llamas, for Díez's alleged maneuvers to halt investigations affecting the circle of Spanish President Pedro Sánchez. Specifically, Judge Santiago Pedraz, who made this decision after the request of the Prosecutor's Office and the popular accusers led by the PP, believes that they could have committed crimes of prevarication and obstruction of justice.

However, the Spanish government maintains its confidence in these officials. After learning of the decision, sources from the Interior Ministry assure that González and Llamas will continue to exercise their responsibilities in the Civil Guard and that they "will cooperate" with justice.

What are the behaviors under suspicion? Within the framework of the Leire Díez case, one of the reports from the Central Operative Unit of the Civil Guard (UCO) indicates that Mercedes González met up to three times with the former PSOE militant between 2024 and 2025. In a context where Díez, according to the police, would be the key figure of a group led by the former organization secretary of the PSOE Santos Cerdán to "destabilize" cases affecting the PSOE and the circle of Spanish President Pedro Sánchez.

In one of her notes, Díez boasted of having a "relationship of trust" with González, whom she knew previously from the time when the current director of the Civil Guard was a delegate of the Spanish government in the Community of Madrid. However, in her appearance before the Senate, Mercedes González downplayed the meetings with Díez and argued that they were simple meetings for coffee. She also denied having participated in any conspiracy to obstruct the investigations of the very police force she directs and assured that she cut off contact at the moment when Leire Díez asked her to readmit Commander Rubén Villalba, investigated in the Koldo case, to the corps. This is because, within the framework of the investigation, the UCO also indicates that the DAO Manuel Llamas, now also indicted by Santiago Pedraz, told investigators that they had to "look the other way" in cases that had political implications.

The Public Prosecutor's Office's filing, to which ARA has had access, considers that since 2021 a "criminal organization" was operational dedicated to manipulating public procurement through public bodies, mainly SEPI (State Society of Industrial Participations), which evolved into a plot aimed at obstructing judicial proceedings that could affect the Spanish government and the PSOE from 2024, when Sánchez took his five days of reflection following the indictment of his wife, Begoña Gómez.

Furthermore, the public ministry considers that the alleged "penetration into SEPI mechanisms to obtain public contracts and benefit from them" would have extended beyond 2023 and has "indications of persisting to the present day" — without further specifics–. Thus, the Public Prosecutor's Office believes there are sufficient indications that the collaboration of other public entities would have been sought, such as the Directorate General of the Civil Guard, the sub-directorate of nationalities of the Ministry of Justice —the plot would have pressured to obtain nationality for Nervis Villalobos, indicted in different cases and alleged collaborator of the organization— or the Bank of Spain in order to curb the activity of UCO investigators.

To indict Mercedes González and Manuel Llamas, the Public Prosecutor's Office relies on various statements made by Civil Guard agents throughout this month of June. They emphasize that a coincidence has been detected between the notes of Leire Díez, who pointed to the UCO as the author of leaks of cases affecting Sánchez's circle and also the Koldo case, and reserved information — a type of disciplinary proceeding — that the Directorate General of the Civil Guard opened against agents who were investigating the events.

In short, the public ministry considers that the political leadership of the police used disciplinary proceedings "instrumentally" to "pressure" judicial investigators, which it interprets as possibly a crime of "obstruction of justice". In parallel, it notes that Mercedes González maintained contact with Leire Díez — with whom she activated the automatic message draft on WhatsApp — despite there being a police note informing of a PSOE campaign to discredit the UCO.

Information request to PSOE

The indictment of the two political officials of the Civil Guard is not the only decision that Pedraz has made this Thursday. He also requests information from the PSOE about the legal advice that Jacobo Teijelo, who is Santos Cerdán's lawyer, would have provided to the party between 2024 and 2025. He asks for the identification of the PSOE person who signed the advisory contract.

It should be taken into account that the party acknowledges having hired the lawyer for his legal analysis at a cost of 125,000 euros, but assures that it rejected the last two invoices (worth 53,000 euros) upon learning of Santos Cerdán's indictment in the case of alleged commissions for public works. Teijelo, in his statement on June 25 before the National Court, assured that he had only done his job as a lawyer. The investigators' suspicion is that the PSOE's payments to the lawyer were a kind of screen to conceal, in reality, payments to Leire Díez and to finance alleged maneuvers to destabilize judicial cases surrounding the PSOE.