Andalusia’s comptroller general resigns after initials appear in Leire Díez case notebooks

Miguel Ángel Figueroa Teva has resigned as comptroller general of the Andalusian regional government, a post he held since January 2025. His name surfaced in handwritten notes seized by the Civil Guard from Leire Díez, a former Socialist Party operative under judicial investigation. The notebooks identified Figueroa by his initials, MAF, and described him as a key contact inside the state-owned industrial holding company SEPI.

A delayed departure

Figueroa had told the Andalusian government months ago that he intended to step down once the first media reports about the case emerged. Regional officials asked him to wait until after the Andalusian elections on 17 May. He submitted his resignation on the Monday of this week, two sources in the Economy and Finance department confirmed.

The resignation has yet to be processed by the regional cabinet and is expected to be ratified at next week’s Council of Government meeting. The government accepted his departure immediately, citing “personal reasons.”

“When the elections passed, he resigned. It was last Monday.”

The SEPI connection

Before joining the Andalusian administration, Figueroa spent several years at SEPI, arriving in 2018 when Vicente Fernández Guerrero became the company’s president following Pedro Sánchez’s no-confidence motion against Mariano Rajoy. Figueroa served as director of Participadas III in the Rural Development, Food and Environment division. Fernández himself had previously been comptroller general of Andalusia under finance minister María Jesús Montero.

Fernández is now under investigation by Spain’s National Court for his alleged role in the so-called Leire Díez network, which is suspected of attempting to interfere with legal cases affecting the Socialist Party and the central government. Figueroa is not accused of any crime, but his appearance in the seized materials made his position untenable.

Internal tensions

Figueroa’s appointment had been controversial from the start. Shortly after taking office, he dismissed four of the eight division heads inside the comptroller’s office, a move that the political opposition described as a “purge.” A former senior official in the office told El País that Figueroa “arrived so that nothing uncomfortable for the government would come out before the elections.”

The vice-minister of Economy, Amelia Martínez, had personally recruited Figueroa from SEPI. According to the former official, the appointment surprised veteran civil servants, who suspected the choice was driven by a personal friendship.

“Figueroa arrived to ensure nothing uncomfortable for the government came out before the elections. And he has stopped everything he could.”

What the notebooks say

In one of the notebooks reviewed by investigators, Leire Díez wrote in her own handwriting: “He will be our eyes in the SEPI,” next to the initials MAF. Investigators believe the entry refers to Figueroa’s insider knowledge of the company’s internal workings, including the management of the FASEE fund created to bail out companies hit by the pandemic.

Figueroa is one of many current and former officials named in the sprawling investigation, but his direct link to the comptroller general’s office — an elite corps of civil servants responsible for auditing the regional government’s accounts — has caused particular alarm in Seville.