The judge of the National Court Santiago Pedraz has rejected the request made by the PP last week to remove the director general of the Civil Guard, Mercedes González, and her number two, Lieutenant General Manuel Llamas, from their command capacity over the Central Operative Unit (UCO) while both are under investigation in the Leire Díez case, which investigates, among other things, the alleged pressures on agents of this group to influence their investigations in corruption cases involving the Government and the environment of President Pedro Sánchez. The Popular Party, which leads the popular accusation in the case, had proposed to the magistrate the need to take precautionary measures against González and Llamas, considering that “the presence of the investigated at the top of the chain of command compromises the integrity of the investigation.”
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In his ruling, the magistrate concludes that it is not necessary to take this measure, since the UCO has the role of judicial police and, therefore, only has to report its investigations to the judge himself. However, Pedraz adds that “as is obvious, if in any way the same [unit] is considered disturbed in its functions, it should be brought to the attention of this court.” The State security forces law already limits the access of police corps leaders to judicial investigations carried out by their subordinates, whose investigations the agents only have to report to the judge instructing the case.
The PP argued that González and General Llamas “maintain intact their direct command capacity over the UCO agents whose investigative work would have been attempted to be neutralized, and over whom they retain powers of direction, assignment, evaluation, disciplinary regime, and allocation of resources.” Therefore, it added, “there is a risk of retaliation against witnesses and agents.” The Popular Party ―in their document lamented both the Government’s “passivity” in not dismissing them and the decision of the director general and the high command to remain in their positions despite being under investigation― asked Judge Pedraz to prohibit both from “exercising any command authority” over the unit “and, in particular, over the Department of Economic Crime and Anti-Corruption,” headed by Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Balas. They also demanded that they be prevented from “initiating, processing, or resolving” internal investigations [the alleged instrument used to influence the inquiries] against their agents, as well as “access to documentation, systems, and files related to the ongoing investigation.”
Recusal of Judge Zamarriego
In the same ruling, Pedraz notes that he has received a communication from the Madrid judge Arturo Zamarriego, who has another case open investigating the activities of former PSOE member Leire Díez, in which he informs him that he has not yet decided whether to finally give up continuing with these investigations and transfer them to the National Court so that this judicial body continues the investigation. In his document, Zamarriego stated that “he is awaiting the receipt of an expert report to decide on said request.” Therefore, Pedraz agrees to send a communication to the Madrid court informing that if by the first week of September he has not agreed to transfer the case, he will appeal to the Supreme Court so that it finally decides which court assumes the investigations into the alleged network led by Díez.
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In his ruling, Pedraz points out in this regard that, until the proceedings carried out in the Madrid court are incorporated into the case, he will not summon the former socialist member to testify, considering that in the part instructed by his colleague Zamarriego “there would have been proceedings that should be taken into account” in a future interrogation. Similarly, he also rejects summoning the former president of the State Industrial Holdings Company (Sepi), Vicente Fernández Guerrero, also under investigation in the case, until he “advances in the analysis of the seized material” when he was arrested along with Díez in December.
Likewise, he rules out summoning for now the also investigated Juan Manuel Serrano, who was Pedro Sánchez’s cabinet in the PSOE and who held the presidency of Correos when the alleged ringleader of the network worked in this public company. In this case, Pedraz suggests waiting for the dump of his mobile phone, scheduled for August 18. Similarly, the judge rejects setting the testimony for now of former senior Correos officials José Luis Pérez Pastor and Patricia Álvarez Sánchez, for their alleged involvement in hiring Leire for this public body.
