The constant controversies surrounding García Ortiz unleash concern at the top of the Prosecutor's Office

Angela Martialay Madrid

Madrid

Updated Tuesday, March 19, 2024-07:20

• Justice The Madrid Bar Association denounces the Prosecutor's Office for revealing confidential data of Ayuso's partner in an "unprecedented" event

• Álvaro García Ortiz The attorney general gave the order to disseminate the note with the secret conversations of the Prosecutor's Office with Ayuso's boyfriend

The unanimous decision of the

Illustrious Bar Association of Madrid

(ICAM) to take to court the leak from the Prosecutor's Office regarding the secret conversations held between the lawyer of Isabel Díaz Ayuso's boyfriend and the Madrid prosecutor

Julián Salto

once again places the prosecutor General of the State, Álvaro García Ortiz, in the pillory.

Barely two months into his new mandate, the institution led by García Ortiz has been involved in several loud scandals.

The first, when the Prosecutor's Office tried to save the former Catalan president

Carles Puigdemont

from the accusation of terrorism in the Supreme Court in the middle of the Government's negotiation with Junts for the amnesty and, the second, due to the leak of confidential data about Ayuso's partner .

As revealed by EL MUNDO, García Ortiz ordered last Thursday to disseminate to the Superior Prosecutor's Office of the Community of Madrid the secret conservations maintained between the lawyer of the businessman

Alberto González Amador

with the prosecutor to reach an agreement for the crimes against the Public Treasury allegedly committed.

With this press release, which could lead to the indictment of members of the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Attorney General's Office wanted to demonstrate that the agreement of agreement had been proposed by the person under investigation and, to do so, chose to reveal the content of the emails exchanged between the lawyer of Ayuso's couple with the Madrid prosecutor, thus violating the protocol of conformities signed between the Public Ministry and the Legal Profession and, what is more serious, violating the right of defense of an investigated person.

The ICAM Governing Board unanimously agreed yesterday to denounce the revelation of the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Madrid - the note carried the name of this body and did not have the seal of the Superior Prosecutor's Office, something unusual if it was sent by its press office - by the possible commission of a crime defined in article 417 of the Penal Code.

The decision of the collegiate body occurred despite the in extremis attempt by the attorney general to try to settle the controversy with the proposal to sign a joint statement last Friday with the ICAM and the General Council of Spanish Lawyers.

Prosecutors' sources explain that, after the Madrid Bar Association met urgently on Thursday and described what happened as "extremely serious", panic spread in Fortuny - headquarters of the Attorney General's Office - as they were aware of the big blunder.

However, the dean of ICAM,

Eugenio Ribón

, refused to sign any statement since the strategy of this body involves "purging responsibilities" in the face of events of "unprecedented severity."

Succession of scandals

But to these two scandals, where the action of the Prosecutor's Office has been openly aimed at favoring the Government of Pedro Sánchez, others are added.

Last January, the attorney general confronted the Fiscal Council, his advisory body, for stealing the possibility of ruling on the proposed Amnesty Law.

García Ortiz did not even inform the members that the Senate had twice requested the opinion of the Public Prosecutor's Office.

Previously, the attorney general was the only senior official in the Judiciary who refused to outright condemn the term

lawfare

defended by Junts and the PSOE in the investiture agreement.

This fact also led to the majority criticism of the High Court prosecutors, who issued a statement regarding the position of their boss.

On the other hand, before taking office, García Ortiz became the first attorney general of the State considered unsuitable by the General Council of the Judiciary.

Among other issues, the CGPJ based its decision on the fact that the Supreme Court held that García Ortiz incurred a "diversion of power" when he promoted

Dolores Delgado

.

Under Delgado's mandate, this prosecutor, former spokesperson for the

Progressive Union of Prosecutors

, earned the nickname

Alvarone

among the Chamber's prosecutors - after

Al Capone

- when he was the strong man of the Attorney General's Office as head of the Technical Secretary. .

At that time, he was involved in other scandals such as the persecution of prosecutor

Ignacio Stampa

or prosecutor

Vicente González Mota,

who refused to declare - against his orders - the prescribed murder of

Miguel Ángel Blanco

.

At the top of the Public Prosecutor's Office there is both concern and embarrassment over all the scandals carried out by the head of a deeply hierarchical institution.

Fiscal sources maintain that the attorney general's continuous setbacks are due both to the fact that the team that advises him has little technical qualification and to García Ortiz's excessive desire to "defend at all costs the Government that appointed him."