Justice takes a further step in the investigation opened following the use of a spy pen within the Vox parliamentary group in Cantabria, which is completely fractured. This is a case reported by two deputies and two advisors of the party and now directly implicates the spokesperson, Leticia Díaz. The judge of the Court of Instruction number 2 of Santander has agreed to direct the procedure against the spokesperson in the regional chamber after noting signs of an alleged crime of discovery and disclosure of secrets.
The decision is recorded in an order made public this Thursday by the Superior Court of Justice of Cantabria (TSJC), in which the magistrate agrees to summon the leader as an investigated party after analyzing the content stored on the device, which was allegedly used to record conversations of the Vox deputies who filed the complaint and with whom the current spokesperson has had an evident confrontation since the beginning of the legislature.
According to the resolution, the pen contained 25 audio files and in three of those recordings a woman appears whose voice has been identified by three people as that of the parliamentary spokesperson.
They expected to record “big things”
According to the instructor, the content of those conversations allows concluding, indicatively, that the leader knew about the existence of the recording pen, knew how it worked, and showed interest in the results it could offer. In one of the recordings, according to the order, a reference can be heard that “big things” could be obtained from the device, an expression that the magistrate incorporates into his argument to justify the expansion of the investigation.
The judicial resolution is not limited to the content of the audios. The judge considers the internal context in which the recordings were made relevant. The order recalls that there was a situation of political confrontation within the Vox parliamentary group that affected both the deputies and the party’s advisors. That internal rivalry had already surfaced publicly and constitutes one of the elements that the instructor takes into account to assess the existing indications.
Another aspect highlighted by the magistrate is the professional relationship between the spokesperson and the advisor who was already under investigation in the case. According to the resolution, the complainants themselves acknowledged that this worker was performing his duties almost exclusively for the parliamentary spokesperson at that time. In the instructor’s opinion, this circumstance, together with the content of the recordings and the context of internal confrontation, justifies the need to formally incorporate her into the procedure.
The investigation began following the complaint filed by two deputies and two advisors of Vox. The complainants went to Justice after finding a recording pen on the desk of the advisor later investigated, in the office shared by several workers of the parliamentary group.
According to what they stated in their complaint, they suspected that the device could have been used to secretly record conversations held in the office with the aim of harming certain people within the framework of the internal disagreements existing in the organization.
Vox deputies at odds
The crisis erupted two years ago with the division of the parliamentary group around two opposing blocks, led by spokesperson Leticia Díaz and, on the other hand, the then deputies Cristóbal Palacio and Armando Blanco, a situation that even forced the national leadership to intervene and supervise the group’s activity.
Now, the investigation into the so-called ‘spy pen’ case brings the conflict back to the forefront.
This judicial decision will have a significant effect when choosing the person to lead Vox’s regional candidacy in Cantabria, a party currently presided over by the Santander City Councilor Laura Velasco, but which does not have a defined leadership beyond the parliamentary spokesperson role held by Leticia Díaz.