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

MadridThe National High 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 considered under suspicion: the deputy operational director (DAO) of the corps, Manuel Llamas, is also being investigated for Díez's alleged maneuvers to halt investigations affecting the circle of the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez. Specifically, Judge Santiago Pedraz, who made this decision following a request from the Prosecutor's Office and popular accusations led by the PP, believes they may have committed crimes of prevarication and obstruction of justice.

However, the Spanish government maintains its confidence in these officials. Interior Ministry sources, after learning of the decision, assure that they maintain confidence in Mercedes González and Manuel Llamas, who will continue to exercise their responsibilities equally, despite being indicted, and will "cooperate" with justice.

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

Leire Díez, in one of her notes, allegedly boasted of having a "relationship of trust" with González, with whom she was previously acquainted from the time when the current director of the Civil Guard was the government delegate in the Community of Madrid. However, Mercedes González, in her appearance before the Senate, downplayed the meetings with Díez, arguing they were simple coffees. She also denied having participated in any conspiracy to obstruct the investigations of the very police force she directs and stated that she cut off contact when Leire Díez asked her to reinstate Commander Rubén Villalba, who is under investigation in the Koldo case.

And that is because within the framework of the investigation, the UCO also indicates that DAO Manuel Llamas, now also indicted by Santiago Pedraz, told investigators that they should "step aside" 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" had been operating dedicated to manipulating public contracting through public bodies, mainly SEPI (State Society of Industrial Participations) which evolved into a scheme aimed at obstructing judicial proceedings that could affect the government and the PSOE from 2024 onwards. Furthermore, it considers that the alleged "penetration into SEPI mechanisms to obtain public contracts to be beneficiaries" would have extended beyond 2023 and with "indications of persisting until the present time". The public ministry, thus, believes that there are sufficient indications that the collaboration of other public bodies such as the Directorate General of the Civil Guard, the sub-directorate of nationalities of the Ministry of Justice —the scheme 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 the UCO investigators.

To indict Mercedes González and Manuel Llamas, the public ministry 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 reserved information that the Directorate General of the Civil Guard opened to agents to investigate the facts. In fact, the Public Prosecutor's Office notes that the current DAO reprimanded the investigators for not having informed the Directorate General of the Civil Guard of the proceedings concerning the president's brother, even though they were acting as judicial police. Even, the public ministry notes that the agents' superiors considered the instruction to be "prospective".

Information request to the PSOE

The indictment of the two political officials of the Civil Guard is not the only decision Pedraz has made this Thursday. He also requests information from the PSOE about the legal advice that Jacobo Teijelo, a lawyer for Santos Cerdán, 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 for a cost of 125,000 euros, but assures that it rejected the last two invoices (for a value of 53,000 euros) upon learning of Santos Cerdán's indictment. In his statement on June 25 before the National Court, Teijelo assured that he had only performed his job as a lawyer. The investigators' suspicion is that the PSOE's payments to the lawyer were a front, in reality, to pay Leire Díez and for alleged maneuvers to destabilize the judicial cases of the PSOE's circle.