Spain’s National Court has stepped up scrutiny of high-level contacts within the Fiscalía General del Estado. Judge Santiago Pedraz has summoned Diego Villafañe, former deputy prosecutor of the Secretaría Técnica and once the closest aide to former Attorney General Álvaro García Ortíz, to testify as a witness. The move followed the Guardia Civil’s Central Operative Unit (UCO) uncovering conversations that point to at least two meetings between Villafañe and lawyer Jacobo Teijelo. Teijelo and former Socialist official Leire Díez are under investigation over an alleged network suspected of seeking to undermine judicial proceedings affecting the PSOE and the Government, as well as people close to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
Pedraz also summoned Beatriz López Pesquera, another prosecutor from García Ortíz’s Secretaría Técnica. Both prosecutors were scheduled to testify on July 15, following a request from the popular prosecution led by the Partido Popular (PP). The inquiry examines the nature and content of their meetings with Teijelo and Díez, reportedly held between March and April 2025. The Fiscalía acknowledged the meetings in a statement to the court on June 10.
Information from the Fiscalía, Teijelo told prosecutors at the first meeting about “a series of acts allegedly committed by third parties that could have criminal relevance.” Weeks later, at a subsequent meeting, he reportedly said he planned to file several complaints concerning those acts. The Fiscalía said García Ortíz learned of the meetings only after they had taken place.
The inquiry into the meetings is part of broader scrutiny of the alleged network and its dealings with professional intermediaries. On 20 October 2026, Judge Pedraz gave the PSOE 48 hours to identify the lawyers, law firms and consultants it had retained, after an earlier request went unanswered, according to Infobae. Three days later, he ordered the party to provide contracts and related records within 15 days, covering legal and consulting engagements by its national and territorial bodies from 2021 to 2025. The requested documents include engagement letters and case files, along with evidence of services provided. Pedraz said the material must be supplied “sin más demora” (“without further delay”) and rejected making compliance dependent on extrajudicial steps initiated by the party, Europa Press reported.
The requested records are intended to establish who was retained, for what work and on what terms. Infobae reported that the UCO attributed at least 43,225 euros to the PSOE as money allegedly reaching Díez through companies linked to former Socialist official Gaspar Zarrías and lawyer Ismael Oliver. The amount is part of the ongoing inquiry into whether party funds financed operations targeting judges, prosecutors and UCO personnel. It remains an investigative allegation, not a final judicial finding. The same report said Pedraz had not formally indicted the PSOE at that stage and was awaiting further investigative steps, including the expected testimony of former Socialist official Santos Cerdán.
The case has drawn attention to the boundaries between prosecutors and people linked to ongoing judicial investigations. The National Court’s separate investigation into pandemic-era bailouts has also led to the summoning of SEPI president Belén Gualda and more than 20 others as suspects, as detailed in recent coverage of the SEPI case.
The Fiscalía General del Estado oversees public prosecutions and holds a basic place in the administration of justice. The proceedings concerning Villafañe and López Pesquera focus on their contacts with Teijelo and Díez. Pedraz’s later order extends the documentary inquiry to the PSOE’s legal and consulting engagements from 2021 to 2025. The investigation concerns alleged efforts to interfere with judicial proceedings; the cited reporting describes an ongoing inquiry, not a final ruling on the allegations.
