Attorney general scandal adds to Spanish government woes

Irish Times

a day ago

The unprecedented legal action being taken against
Spain
's attorney general which could see him go on trial and has fuelled calls for his resignation is just the latest in a litany of scandals which have left the Socialist-led government of
Pedro Sánchez
struggling for stability.
This week, a supreme court investigating judge recommended that the attorney general, Álvaro García Ortiz, should face trial for his alleged role in leaking secret information to the media about a tax fraudster.
In March 2024, Spanish media reported details of a plea deal which Alberto González Amador, boyfriend of the conservative president of the Madrid regional government Isabel Díaz Ayuso, had proposed to the general attorney's office.
The tax office had found that González Amador had avoided paying about €350,000 from earnings made from importing healthcare material during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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The media reports corrected a false claim made by Díaz Ayuso's team that the attorney general's office had been the one to offer a deal. The investigating judge, Ángel Luis Hurtado, has now accused the attorney general himself of being the source of the reports.
According to the judge, the leak aimed 'to make clear that, according to [García Ortiz], the attorney general had not offered any deal of this kind'.
Díaz Ayuso, a prominent figure on the right, has been a fierce critic of the government.
If he does go on trial, which now looks likely, and were to be found guilty, García Ortiz could receive a jail sentence of up to four years. However, the most damaging allegation, as far as the government is concerned, was that the attorney general, who it proposed for the post, was acting on the orders of the prime minister's office.
The left-wing coalition government has staunchly defended the attorney general and justice minister Félix Bolanos flatly denied the claim the government was involved in the leak.
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'I regret very much that the supreme court should make such a serious assertion without any evidence, because that never happened,' he said.
However, the opposition says García Ortiz cannot remain in his post.
'The situation regarding the attorney general is unprecedented in our democracy, you must demand his resignation,' Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the leader of the conservative Popular Party (PP), told Sánchez in Congress on Wednesday.
The opposition leader has cast this as the latest in a series of scandals to affect the government. Sánchez's wife, Begona Gómez, has been investigated for possible business irregularities and his musician brother, David, is due to go on trial for alleged influence peddling in being appointed to a public post.
A former Socialist minister, José Luis Ábalos, is being investigated on suspicion of profiting from a kickback scheme when he was in government. Meanwhile, a former Socialist party official, Leire Díez, has been caught on tape offering favourable treatment to a businessman in exchange for incriminating information on the police unit carrying out investigations into several cases affecting the government.
Many judicial experts have said the attorney general's position is untenable. However, a large number have also expressed concerns about the judge's investigation, pointing to an apparent lack of evidence against García Ortiz.
Tensions between the government and the judiciary have been escalating since Sánchez's administration introduced an amnesty law for Catalan nationalists last year. Many on the left see the ongoing investigations as part of a campaign by magistrates with right-wing allegiances.
Government spokeswoman Pilar Alegría said that 'at this point certain judges are doing things which are difficult to understand'.
A recent poll by the national statistics institute found that 78 per cent of Spaniards do not trust the impartiality of their justice system in cases involving political parties.