MADRID, Spain — Judge Santiago Pedraz is significantly expanding his investigation into the alleged underground political networks within the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), focusing heavily on Leire Díez’s infiltration of the State Prosecutor’s Office and the Civil Guard. The judicial probe, which went public on May 27 following a dramatic raid on PSOE headquarters, is advancing rapidly and tightening the legal net around the closest allies of former Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
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In a major parallel development, the Civil Guard’s Central Operational Unit (UCO) has begun analyzing the mobile phone data of Juan Manuel Serrano, the former president of the state postal service Correos and ex-chief of staff to Pedro Sánchez. The magistrate authorized the data extraction in a recent ruling that formally investigated Serrano for his alleged role in the nepotistic hiring of Díez at Correos and his involvement in rigged public contracts. The digital evidence has proven crucial; messages recovered from Díez’s device reveal an intensely close relationship with Serrano, including an exchange of over 10,000 WhatsApp messages over several years.
This week, the court will initiate a new round of critical interrogations. On Wednesday, Diego Villafañe, the former right-hand man of ex-Attorney General Álvaro García Ortiz, and Prosecutor Beatriz López are scheduled to testify as witnesses regarding their meetings with Díez. On Thursday, the current Director of the Civil Guard, Mercedes González, and the Deputy Operational Director (DAO), Manuel Llamas, will appear before the judge as formally investigated parties.
The investigation into the Civil Guard centers on allegations of administrative prevarication and crimes against the administration of justice. According to UCO reports, Díez attempted to leverage her purported “trusted” relationship with Director González to trigger internal administrative investigations against UCO agents who were actively probing cases related to the PSOE and Sánchez’s family. The UCO was a primary target of these alleged political maneuvers, alongside the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
During a May 27 appearance at Civil Guard headquarters, former UCO chief Rafael Yuste testified that DAO Manuel Llamas had pressured him to “keep a low profile” in politically sensitive cases, particularly those involving the ruling party or the government. Yuste also recounted a meeting where former Director General Leonardo Marcos harshly criticized a UCO report concerning Pedro Sánchez’s brother, dismissing it as “prospective and malicious.” Marcos allegedly demanded that the subsequent UCO report be sanitized to show “nothing,” claiming the unit’s credibility was “in the gutter.”
Mercedes González previously addressed these allegations during a Senate hearing on June 16. While she admitted to meeting with Díez, she vehemently denied ever exerting pressure on the UCO, the Economic Crime Unit, or any other division of the Civil Guard, whether influenced by Díez or anyone else. She will now be required to provide these explanations directly to the investigating magistrate.
Simultaneously, the probe is scrutinizing Díez’s infiltration of the State Prosecutor’s Office. Prosecutors Villafañe and López cannot invoke their right to remain silent and must testify about their encounters with Díez and Jacobo Teijelo, the lawyer currently defending Santos C “erdán. The UCO discovered physical agenda entries referencing meetings with the “FGE” (Fiscalía General del Estado). The Prosecutor’s Office has confirmed that these meetings took place outside the official Fortuny headquarters and that former Attorney General García Ortiz was informed retroactively, though he allegedly gave no instructions to the attending prosecutors.
According to the Ministry, the first meeting occurred on March 6, 2025, when Teijelo claimed he wanted to report potentially criminal acts “committed by third parties.” A second meeting followed in late March or early April, during which Teijelo expressed an intention to file formal complaints that ultimately never materialized.
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Beyond these specific encounters, the case file contains substantial evidence of Díez boasting about her ability to influence the Prosecutor’s Office. Early reports detailed a meeting between Díez and Alejandro Hamlyn, a fugitive businessman implicated in a hydrocarbon VAT fraud case. Díez allegedly sought sensitive information against the UCO in exchange for promising favorable treatment from the Prosecutor’s Office. Furthermore, sources close to Gonzalo Boye, the lawyer for Carles Puigdemont, indicated that Díez also approached him to offer advantages in his legal case, explicitly citing her close ties to the former Attorney General.
As the judicial process advances, the accumulation of digital evidence and witness testimonies is systematically corroborating the extent of the alleged infiltration.
