The night of March 13 was an earthquake in the Prosecutor’s Office of such magnitude that the aftershocks have brought the State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, before the Supreme Court. The news from El Mundo about the pact with Alberto González Amador, partner of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, activated the machinery of the Public Ministry to respond to the hoax spread by the Madrid president’s team and published by that newspaper, and which sought to cover up the real news. : that the commission agent had pleaded guilty to defrauding 350,000 euros.
That confession destroyed the falsehoods that Ayuso had been launching in the previous days: that everything was a persecution against her through her partner by “all the powers of the State”, that it was the Treasury who owed 600,000 euros to González Amador or that after the case there were prosecutors close to the PSOE. The castle of lies was crowned by a message from his Chief of Staff, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, to several journalists, in which he falsely stated that the Prosecutor’s Office had offered a pact to the commission agent and then stopped him “by orders from above.” Several media published it without verification. Behind that WhatsApp, what Ayuso’s chief of staff was trying to say was that everything could be closed with an agreement but that the Public Ministry, influenced by the Government, had stopped it to stretch the case into a trial that would give it even more visibility.
That night of Wednesday, March 13, several prosecutors involved in the case exchanged messages to try to clarify what had really happened and give the true version of the events. These messages, now collected in a report from the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard, dismantle the two lies of Ayuso and his team: neither was there an offer of a pact from the prosecutor nor was it stopped from above. What’s more, the messages show the ignorance of the Prosecutor’s Office leadership about the case, which the president of the Community of Madrid framed in a political, judicial and media operation against her.
“They are going to tell more lies”
The UCO report states that, at 9:00 p.m. on March 13, cross calls began to occur between the senior prosecutor of Madrid, Almudena Lastra, and the provincial chief prosecutor, Pilar Rodríguez. At 9:10 p.m., García Ortiz asks Rodríguez to contact him. The content of the calls is unknown, but Rodríguez sends a message at 9:15 p.m. to a lawyer friend of his with whom he has been talking about the case: “Well, it seems that tomorrow they are going to tell more lies.”
Only 15 minutes later The news from El Mundo is published: “The Prosecutor’s Office offers an agreement to Ayuso’s partner to admit two tax crimes.” That is the original wording, which has subsequently undergone modifications. Other media add that the pact has been stopped “by orders from above.” The source of this information is Ayuso’s Chief of Staff, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, who that night sent a message to several journalists, who published the information without verification. He himself spreads the same thesis on social network X.
The prosecutors exchange calls between themselves again: García Ortiz has taken the initiative to gather information about the case and clarify what has happened. At around 10:00 p.m. he demands that the emails referred to by El Mundo be sent to him. The main one, the confession, had been sent on February 2 to a generic email from the Prosecutor’s Office to which around twenty people have access.
Also around that time, the press officer of the Madrid Prosecutor’s Office sends the link of the news to the prosecutor Pilar Rodríguez, who answers: “Almudena [Lastra] You already have the emails. They are completely correct.”
The conversations that take place show that the leadership of the Prosecutor’s Office learned the details of the case that day, more than five weeks after González Amador offered a pact acknowledging two crimes.
“Your lawyer surrenders unconditionally”
In the successive messages included in the UCO report, the prosecutors talk among themselves to locate the rest of the emails and send them to the State Attorney General. That’s where the senior prosecutor for economic crimes, Virna Alonso, and the prosecutor in charge of the González Amador case, Julián Salto, enter the scene.
Pilar Rodríguez and Virna Alonso then start a conversation about the news. “On February 2, his lawyer surrenders unconditionally and acknowledges everything. Before even knowing which prosecutor was going to handle the matter,” says Alonso. He thus denies that the Prosecutor’s Office offered an agreement to González Amador and confirms that the exchange of emails began with the confession of the commission agent’s lawyer, who sought to avoid the trial and the media repercussion of the case.
Alonso also focuses on the email sent by prosecutor Julián Salto – in which he informs him of the complaint and calls for possible compliance later – and defends his actions: “The email is as it has been reflected in the newspaper. And it is impeccable in its content.” Rodríguez responds: “Everything impeccable. “We are not advancing anything concrete except that an agreement can be reached.” Rodríguez also writes directly to Julián Salto: “All the emails are impeccable. You must and we must be calm.”
Alonso and Rodríguez continue talking and, once again, their messages debunk the hoax that the Prosecutor’s Office took the initiative for an agreement. “The complaint has already been filed. Pay and acknowledge the facts in court and then we will settle,” Alonso summarizes the content of the emails, and adds: “That was the offer. RECOGNIZE AND PAY (sic).”
A persecution of which the prosecutor knows nothing
The messages exchanged that night also refute Ayuso’s accusation that the investigation of her partner was a persecution orchestrated by the Government and executed by the Prosecutor’s Office. In fact, García Ortiz, in addition to requesting the emails of the case, has to ask details that he does not know, such as when the complaint was presented to the dean’s office or what the agreement with González Amador would consist of. That same night, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez’s message said that the alleged pact had been stopped due to “orders from above.”
García Ortiz continues to ask for details of the case at midnight, with messages to the chief provincial prosecutor of Madrid Pilar Rodríguez. This explains why there cannot be an agreement yet with González Amador: “As it is a direct complaint, everyone would have to receive a statement and, depending on each case, the ‘invoicers’ are accused or not, depending on the evidence.” With that expression, Rodríguez alludes to the Andalusian businessmen who supposedly They prepared false invoices to help González Amador in his deception of the Treasury.
The attorney general then asks if, based on what he has been told, the agreement would have to be postponed until the investigation of the case is completed. Rodríguez confirms it: “Without payment, negotiations for compliance do not begin.”
The press release “is perfect”
With the information collected, the Prosecutor’s Office team prepared a press release that same night. García Ortiz sent it after midnight to prosecutor Pilar Rodríguez and asked her to also share it with Virna Alonso so that they could check if the “background” was correct. After a few minutes, Rodríguez answers: “We both think it’s perfect.” Then he adds: “Although it makes you want to add a little cyanide.” García Ortiz limits himself to thanking Rodríguez and asking him to thank Salto and Alonso, as well as “a hug for enduring this.”
The note is published the next morning. Immediately, the dean of the Bar Association contacts the Prosecutor’s Office to sever relations because he considers that the note damages the right of defense of Ayuso’s partner. The Bar Association and González himself ended up filing a complaint.
That complaint was admitted for processing, despite the fact that two prosecutors, in addition to García Ortiz himself, had reviewed the note and stated that it was “perfect.” In subsequent conversations collected by the UCO, several prosecutors insist that the note is correct and that it did not reveal any personal information.
Despite this, the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid opened an investigation focused on that note and for months interrogated those involved, before submitting a reasoned statement to the Supreme Court in July and requesting that García Ortiz and the prosecutor Pilar Rodríguez be investigated. The Supreme Court flatly ruled out that the note that had motivated all this instruction represented a revelation of secrets, but it gave a twist to the case to continue investigating García Ortiz: it began to consider the leaking of the email with González Amador’s confession a crime.
Therefore, the investigation that was opened by a note that dismantled the hoaxes of Ayuso and his team has effectively shown that they were lies published by various media without a minimum of verification. But the attorney general continues to be investigated, his cell phone messages are being analyzed and the Supreme Court judge is exploring another avenue of investigation against him, ignoring a record that rules out that he committed any irregularity.
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