Spain's Civil Guard chief admits meetings with PSOE 'plumber' Leire Díez, denies plot against elite anti-corruption unit
Mercedes González acknowledged two or three meetings with the former PSOE militant at the centre of a judicial harassment scheme, but says she rejected a request to reinstate a commander implicated in the Koldo corruption case.
The meetings come to light
The director general of Spain's Guardia Civil, Mercedes González, admitted on Thursday that she met with Leire Díez, a former PSOE militant under investigation for participating in a scheme to discredit judicial cases against the party. The acknowledgement came via an Interior Ministry statement issued late in the evening, after a UCO (Central Operative Unit) report detailing the contacts was made public. González said she first met Díez while serving as government delegate in Madrid, when Díez worked in institutional relations for the state postal service Correos.
What was discussed
According to the Guardia Civil statement, the first meeting after González became director general lasted about 15 minutes in a café near the force's headquarters and did not touch on police work. A second encounter, in April 2025, took a different turn. Díez asked whether commander Rubén Villalba, suspended without pay after being charged in the Koldo corruption case, could return to his post. González says she rejected the request outright and ended the meeting immediately. The statement says the two did not meet again after that.
The director affirms that she has never participated in any operation against any unit of the Guardia Civil.
The UCO's suspicions
Investigators from the UCO, the very elite unit that probed the Koldo case and other corruption matters touching the PSOE and the prime minister's family, documented three encounters between González and Díez. They infer that those meetings, together with phone contacts, motivated internal inquiries opened within the Guardia Civil to determine the source of media leaks. The UCO places those contacts within Díez's alleged criminal activity, though neither the prosecutor nor the judge have attributed any crime to González at this stage.
The Supreme Court's intervention
A separate strand of the investigation reveals that an internal probe targeting the UCO was halted abruptly after a warning from Supreme Court magistrate Leopoldo Puente. On 11 May 2025, the day El Mundo published messages between former minister José Luis Ábalos and Pedro Sánchez, the Guardia Civil leadership launched an internal investigation into the UCO over suspected leaks. The officer assigned to lead it, Antonio Cortés Ruiz, consulted Puente, who responded that he did not authorise the inquiry and would open criminal proceedings against anyone who ordered it. The probe was dropped.
If the opening of the reserved information were carried out, he would proceed to open proceedings against both the witness and the person who ordered the opening.
Political fallout
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is maintaining confidence in both Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska and González, despite the PP calling for their resignations. Government sources say Sánchez believes neither González nor Marlaska did anything to harm the UCO or obstruct its investigations. The minister defended the director in brief remarks from Luxembourg, denying any irregularity. The case deepens an eight-year pattern of tension between the Guardia Civil and the progressive government, stretching back to Sánchez's first months in office.
- Second González-Díez meeting: Díez asks for commander Villalba's reinstatement; González refuses and ends contact.
- El Mundo publishes Ábalos-Sánchez messages; Guardia Civil leadership launches internal probe into UCO over leaks.
- Supreme Court magistrate Puente warns he will open criminal proceedings if the UCO probe proceeds; investigation halted.
- UCO agents raid PSOE headquarters on Ferraz street, seizing documents and devices in the Leire case.
- González issues statement admitting meetings with Díez; Marlaska defends her from Luxembourg.
The 'plumber' at the centre
Leire Díez, dubbed the PSOE's 'plumber' in Spanish media, is charged with multiple offences related to an alleged operation to harass police officers and prosecutors handling cases affecting the socialists. On 27 May, UCO agents raided the PSOE headquarters on Ferraz street in Madrid, seizing documents and electronic devices as part of the investigation. The officer leading that probe, lieutenant colonel Antonio Balas, has documented what he describes as pressure linked to the relationship between Díez and González.
