Mercedes González, director general of Spain’s Guardia Civil, has appeared before Audiencia Nacional investigating judge Santiago Pedraz as an investigated party in proceedings into alleged pressure on officers of the force’s Unidad Central Operativa (UCO). The reported offences include prevaricación, alleged unlawful conduct by a public official, and obstruction of justice. The inquiry is examining whether internal disciplinary procedures were used to hinder or intimidate investigators handling corruption cases involving people connected to the PSOE. González and Deputy Operational Director Manuel Llamas have both denied wrongdoing. The proceedings remain under investigation and do not establish guilt.
The case escalated after UCO agents entered Guardia Civil headquarters in Madrid on Pedraz’s orders. Their search focused on visitor records and internal disciplinary files, including procedures concerning Leire Díez, a former PSOE member under investigation over alleged efforts to disrupt judicial cases. The article’s account says investigators found no record that Díez had entered the basic building. They reviewed three internal investigations, known as “informaciones reservadas,” opened between January 2024 and May 2025. Separate reporting identifies UCO-related files as 1/24 and 1/25, distinguishing them from three reserved investigations in other Guardia Civil units. Llamas told investigators that the director general was not notified when those three other inquiries began or ended. She had not been involved in initiating them and had no prior knowledge of their progress.
Contacts between Díez and González are basic to the inquiry. El Debate reported that the UCO confirmed several meetings, including one in González’s official office in November 2024. The meetings described in the case span September 2024 to April 2025. Díez reportedly characterized González as someone she trusted and said she could contact her directly. Investigators are examining whether that relationship was used in efforts affecting cases involving the PSOE or relatives of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. The UCO’s reported assessment was that Díez “may have been using that relationship” in the actions under investigation.
Information from the case account, González acknowledged meeting Díez for coffee twice between September 2024 and April 2025, following earlier denials from Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska. Initially described as professional contacts, the meetings are now part of the inquiry into whether disciplinary procedures were used to pressure UCO investigators. González has denied taking part in any effort to stop judicial investigations. She has said she considers herself a victim of Santos Cerdán and the wider investigation.
The first internal inquiry followed Okdiario’s publication of material from a confidential UCO report containing personal information about the Prime Minister’s family. Llamas, the DAO, ordered an investigation into the leak. The procedure closed within a month with a verbal warning, according to the article’s account. Senior officers later told Pedraz that comparable disciplinary action was unusual, while González maintained that the procedures were routine. The judicial question is whether the inquiry was a normal response to a possible confidentiality breach or was selectively used to put pressure on investigators.
Further scrutiny followed a second alleged meeting, inferred from a parking fine near Guardia Civil headquarters. González said she could not recall the encounter, citing other official commitments. A meeting in April 2025 was also reported as confirmed. During it, Díez reportedly sought the reinstatement of a commander implicated in the “caso Koldo” investigation. González said she reported the approach to Grande-Marlaska and denied trying to influence any investigation.
The UCO and the Guardia Civil’s Information Headquarters raised internal concerns about Díez’s activities, suspecting a campaign to discredit investigators. González’s continued contact with Díez drew further scrutiny after evidence emerged of deleted messages between them. Díez has rejected the allegations, calling the controversy a “farce that has exceeded all capacity for imagination.” She has also claimed that the UCO report at the centre of the dispute contained numerous false assertions, contradicted by a Policía Nacional report.
A further internal inquiry was considered after leaks involving WhatsApp* (принадлежит Metа, которая признана экстремистской организацией и запрещена в РФ) messages between former minister José Luis Ábalos and the Prime Minister. The Supreme Court judge overseeing the “caso Koldo” halted it. Anti-Corruption Prosecutors questioned the attempt to open a probe despite a lack of evidence against UCO officers. In late May 2025, senior police commanders met González and later Grande-Marlaska to discuss the controversy. González said she had been transparent about her meetings with Díez, while other senior officers gave Pedraz accounts that contradicted hers.
A separate internal investigation was launched in September 2025 after media reports accused the DAO of political interference. It sought detailed organisational charts and the identities of investigators working on government-related cases, then closed a month later without findings. Prosecutors questioned the purpose of those requests, while González defended the need to protect the reputation of senior officers. The inquiry is considering these procedures alongside files 1/24 and 1/25, rather than treating every internal investigation as part of a single coordinated action.
Testimony from former Guardia Civil director Leonardo Marcos added another strand to the proceedings. Senior officers said Marcos had pressured them to conclude investigations into the Prime Minister’s brother and produce reports clearing him of wrongdoing. Pedraz declined to place Marcos under investigation, focusing instead on González and her deputy. The broader inquiry also concerns alleged pressure on UCO agents and efforts to derail corruption investigations involving PSOE figures. Other reported investigated parties include Santos Cerdán and lawyers Teijelo and Ismael Oliver. The list also includes former Sánchez chief of staff Juan Manuel Serrano. Their inclusion reflects the scope of the investigation, not a finding of liability.
Separate reporting says Pedraz is seeking documentation about payments and arrangements for legal services and consultancy allegedly connected to Díez. Those matters belong to the wider investigation and do not, by themselves, establish wrongdoing by González or Llamas. Díez has declined to give a substantive public answer about her meetings with González or whether González warned her that the UCO was investigating her. She said she knew where to speak when she had something to say.
The proceedings place the relationship between Spain’s law-enforcement leadership and politically sensitive investigations under scrutiny, including the autonomy of the UCO and the use of internal disciplinary powers. The Guardia Civil, a national security force with policing responsibilities, is subject to internal administration and judicial oversight. Pedraz’s basic question is whether the contacts and disciplinary files, alongside alleged pressure on officers, were separate administrative matters or formed part of an effort to interfere with corruption investigations. González and Llamas deny improper interference, and the allegations remain for the court to examine.
