MADRID: Spain’s top prosecutor moved closer on Monday to facing trial over a legal leaks case that has embarassed Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez after a court ruled he may have breached judicial secrecy.
Alvaro García Ortiz is suspected of leaking secret case files concerning the partner of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the powerful conservative leader of the Madrid region -- one of several controversies putting pressure on Sánchez’s minority left-wing government.
In March last year, Spanish media published a draft agreement between the public prosecutor’s office and the lawyer of businessman Alberto González Amador, who is under investigation for alleged tax fraud.
According to the reports, Amador proposed a plea deal in which he would admit to the alleged offences in exchange for avoiding a criminal trial.
Ayuso’s conservative opposition Popular Party (PP) has demanded Ortiz’s resignation and accused allies of Sanchez of organising the leak.
The Supreme Court began investigating Ortiz in October after a complaint by Amador, who saw the earnings of his health company soar during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
Appointed by Sanchez’s government in 2022, Ortiz has denied leaking any information about Amador, either personally or through his office.
In a ruling seen by AFP on Monday, Supreme Court judge Angel Luis Hurtado said there is sufficient evidence to potentially send García Ortiz to trial, pointing to signs the attorney general disclosed details of a judicial investigation.
The judge gave all parties involved 10 days to present comments or file appeals before deciding whether to refer Ortiz to a criminal court -- the final procedural step before a formal trial.
Hurtado said Ortiz gave “publicity that should not have been given” to the case by leaking a “confidential” email to several media outlets.
He also wrote in his ruling that he believes the prosecutor acted “as a result of indications received from the presidency of the government”.
Justice Minister Felix Bolanos expressed his full confidence in Ortiz and firmly denied allegations that the government asked the prosecutor to leak an email.
“That never happened, and I deeply regret that the Supreme Court would make such a serious claim without any supporting evidence,“ he told reporters.
The case adds to mounting legal and political pressure on Sanchez, whose inner circle faces several ongoing investigations.
Tens of thousands of people rallied in Madrid on Sunday against Sanchez’s government on Sunday in a demonstration called by the PP which demanded early elections.
“It’s time for the prosecutor -- and whoever gave him his orders -- to go,“ PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo wrote on social network X.
