Spain’s Attorney General Álvaro García Ortiz (main image) firmly denied leaking confidential legal material targeting the right-wing opposition as he testified in his own defence before the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
García Ortiz has become the first sitting attorney general in Spain’s history to stand trial, marking the latest in a string of judicial disputes weighing on socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s fragile coalition government. ALSO READ: Spain’s Attorney General stands trial over allegations of leaking confidential information.
Prosecutors accuse García Ortiz of leaking details of a tax fraud case involving businessman Alberto González Amador — the partner of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the People’s Party (PP) leader of the Madrid regional government.
Ayuso’s PP claims García Ortiz, appointed by Sánchez’s socialist administration in 2022, deliberately authorised the leak to politically damage her. Ayuso, a key figure on Spain’s right, is often touted as a future national party leader.
‘I did not leak the email,’ García Ortiz, 57, told the court, describing the allegations as ‘defamation’.
‘Truth is never leaked, it defends itself,’ he added.
The controversy dates back to 2024, when reports surfaced that González Amador had proposed a plea bargain with prosecutors – admitting to tax offences in return for avoiding trial and imprisonment.
The Supreme Court opened proceedings against García Ortiz following a complaint filed by González Amador, who is accused of defrauding the treasury of €350,000 in 2020 and 2021, during a period when his health company’s revenues surged amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
González Amador is seeking a four-year prison term for García Ortiz and €300,000 in damages for ‘moral harm’. His legal team argues the case has been used by Madrid’s regional government as a distraction from his own alleged wrongdoing and to shield Ayuso from political fallout.
Taking the stand last week, González Amador said he had sought to resolve the case ‘quickly and quietly’ to avoid hurting Ayuso.
‘With the publication of the email, I became the confessed criminal of the Kingdom of Spain! I was dead!’ he exclaimed. García Ortiz, he said, ‘had publicly killed me. He had completely destroyed me’.
State prosecutors have called for García Ortiz’s acquittal, while Prime Minister Sánchez has publicly expressed his confidence in the attorney general’s innocence.
If found guilty, García Ortiz could face up to six years in prison and disbarment.
Several journalists who received the leaked email – which contained details of the proposed plea deal – testified that they had not obtained it from García Ortiz.
José Precedo, a journalist with El Diario who first reported on the correspondence, told the court that García Ortiz ‘never passed me a document in the 22 years of my career’.
‘I know he is innocent because I know the source, but I cannot reveal it due to professional secrecy,’ Precedo added.
The high-profile trial, which opened on 3 November, was due to conclude on Thursday.
Meanwhile, separate corruption probes involving the prime minister’s wife, brother, and two former socialist officials have further destabilised Sánchez’s administration. ALSO READ: Spanish PM denies corruption in rowdy senate hearing, calling it a ‘circus’ and ‘witch hunt’.
The PP has repeatedly demanded Sánchez’s resignation and a snap election, accusing his government of deep-seated corruption.
Sánchez, for his part, insists the allegations are part of a ‘smear campaign’ driven by the right, telling a Senate committee last month that Socialist party finances are ‘absolutely clean’. ALSO READ: Pedro Sánchez: ‘There are judges doing politics and politicians trying to do justice’.
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El juicio al fiscal general está a punto de terminar con las últimas intervenciones de las partes. Las acusaciones señalan a García Ortiz como filtrador del correo.
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