UNDER REGISTRATION

Updated Friday, March 15, 2024-23:02

The revelation that the Madrid Provincial Prosecutor's Office made this Thursday about the negotiations between the Public Ministry and the boyfriend of Isabel Díaz Ayuso constitutes a

frontal attack on the right to defense

that protects every citizen.

The episode is unusual in itself, but it is of great gravity due to the way in which it was forged: as EL MUNDO has revealed, the order for dissemination came from

Álvaro García Ortiz

.

That is, the attorney general of the State, already completely discredited before the

career he directs, gave direct instructions to disseminate

information protected by professional secrecy

-detailed dates, contents of meetings, emails and conversations, even with quotation marks-, to the detriment of a private citizen, partner of a political rival of the Government.

And all this at the precise moment when La Moncloa was most interested in adding weight to this case to divert the focus from its own scandals:

Koldo case

and the amnesty of its partners.

A series of journalistic reports revealed this week that the Prosecutor's Office has denounced Alberto González for presenting

false invoices to avoid paying 350,000 euros

in 2020 and 2021. The Madrid president then appeared to defend herself - there are in fact no suspicions of influence peddling or involvement of public funds -, although

took an unnecessary risk

by also defending the innocence of his partner, becoming a participant in a responsibility that does not concern him.

As this newspaper reported, the businessman had claimed that he made "a mistake" and had paid 400,000 euros to repair it.

On Tuesday, just hours after the scandal broke,

The prosecutor in the case addressed his lawyer indicating the option of "reaching an agreement"

if his client considered it "possible."

The matter could have ended there, but the Prosecutor's Office crossed a dangerous limit by issuing a press release in which, revealing details of the negotiations, it stressed that González had assumed the facts.

The leak has generated deep concern among lawyers.

The General Council of the Bar yesterday expressed its condemnation, while the

Illustrious Bar Association of Madrid (ICAM)

He refused to settle the controversy, as García Ortiz intended, and will meet with his board this Monday to analyze whether he takes any action in response to an action that, in his opinion, breaks professional secrecy and "puts the neutrality" of the Prosecutor's Office at risk.

It was precisely the ICAM that in 2010 approved filing a complaint against the judge

Baltasar Garzón

for illegally spying on the communications of two lawyers of the

Gürtel plot

with your clients.

Only the cowardice of his then dean prevented it from being formalized.

The facts, as ICAM emphasizes, are "extremely serious."

With this

new display of servility towards the Government,

García Ortiz harms not only the institution he directs, but also the citizens, who are really responsible.

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