What has happened with the Leire Díez case?

BarcelonaIn the midst of a whirlwind of information about the political developments and consequences of the Santos Cerdán case, the plot surrounding Leire Díez seems to have been left in the background. But the name of the former socialist activist, whose audio recordings were leaked trying to uncover information about the Civil Guard, is appearing in the headlines due to the thread that links her to the former number 3 of the PSOE. In the last few hours, it has also become known that a Madrid court has initiated an investigation against her for the first time, according to media outlets such as The Independent and The reason and sources from the Madrid High Court of Justice (TSJM) have confirmed to ARA.

According to the aforementioned sources, Madrid's investigating court number 2 has opened "undetermined proceedings" against Díez following a complaint filed by the Association of the Non-Commissioned Officers of the Civil Guard (ASESGC). In its brief, this organization accused the journalist of influence peddling, bribery, and obstruction of justice for allegedly digging up dirt on the head of economic crime at the Central Operative Unit (UCO), Antonio Balas, who is responsible for cases involving Pedro Sánchez and the Cerdán investigation.

Although Díez, who was a Socialist councilor in Cantabria and held several positions in public companies, maintains that she is working on a journalistic investigation into irregular police practices, the association of commanders of the armed institute considers that she has acted at all times "on behalf of PSOE officials." All of this, from the audio recordings of a meeting in which the former socialist militant He allegedly offered judicial benefits to the businessman accused of VAT fraud in hydrocarbons, Alejandro Hamlyn, in exchange for compromising information about the Civil Guard, Balas. Also participating in this meeting were businessman Javier Pérez Dolset and lawyer Jacobo Teijelo, now also on the team with Benito Salellas to defend Cerdán. In fact, ASESGC has included Teijelo in the complaint.

The Extremadura branch

While awaiting the progress of this investigation, sources from the TSJM (High Court of Justice) confirm that there are at least three other complaints against Leire Díez pending distribution in the Madrid courts. According to The reason, these are the ones presented –respectively– by the Unified Association of Civil Guards (AUGC), the far-right party Iustitia Europa and the ultra-right organization Hazte Oír. The latter has to do with alleged attempts to sabotage the case opened against David Sánchez, brother of the Spanish president, and it reached the Madrid courts after a Badajoz judge recused himself from the case at the end of June due to lack of territorial jurisdiction.

On Monday, in fact, another Badajoz court made the same move with a complaint filed by the self-proclaimed far-right union Manos Limpias, which accuses Díez of discovering and revealing secrets and influence peddling. The judge, in this case, also requested that the case be joined with the Hazte Oír complaint, when he realized that it would involve investigating the same facts. It wouldn't be surprising, in fact, if all the investigations into Díez ended up being unified into a single one.