The Supreme Court sentences the State Attorney General to a two-year ban for the crime of revealing confidential data and imposes a fine of 7,200 euros on him. The ruling was not adopted unanimously, but by a majority of five of the seven judges who made up the court. The other two, Ana Ferrer and Susana Polo, have announced that they will cast a private vote. Polo was initially the author of the sentence and the acquittal proposal, so the drafting of the resolution of the sentence will now fall to the president of the Criminal Chamber, Andrés Martínez Arrieta. The Supreme Court announced its decision only on Thursday, but the ruling has not yet been written.
García Ortiz was in the dock accused of having leaked an email sent to the Prosecutor’s Office by Alberto González Amador’s lawyer to try to reach an agreement on the open case for allegedly defrauding the Treasury of 350,000 euros through a system of false invoices. Its diffusion e-mail occurred on March 13, 2024, after The world published information that included the false version that Ayuso’s entourage was spreading about his partner’s compliance negotiations with the Prosecutor’s Office, according to which it was the prosecutor who offered the businessman a deal.
The Supreme Court’s decision comes after the trial held at the High Court from November 3 to 13, during which 40 witnesses testified, among others, Alberto González Amador; the head of cabinet of the Madrid president, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez; the former Secretary of State for Communications Francesc Vallés; former top Moncloa executive Pilar Sánchez Acera; the former Madrid PSOE leader Juan Lobato; and 12 journalists, including three from EL PAÍS.
Many of them said they knew González Amador acknowledged his crimes to attempt a compliance deal before the attorney general received the email the investigation is focused on — some provided WhatsApp messages confirming this. And three of them said they had access to it e-mail and that it was not the Attorney General who sent it to him. But they all respected professional secrecy, a right recognized by the Constitution, not to reveal their sources. Among them is Miguel Ángel Campos, the editor of Cadena SER who broke the first news of the leaked email (dated February 2), who assured that he had access to its contents at midday on March 13, but that his source prohibited him from publishing it and gave him permission only after The world had spread the distorted version that Miguel Ángel Rodríguez had been spreading for hours.
The accusations reduce the credibility of these testimonies with arguments such as that they can be excused by professional secrecy for not telling the truth; or because, in the words of González Amador’s lawyer, “they have an economic, professional or commercial interest in taking care of the power of attorney as a source.”
(Breaking news. There will be an extension.)
