Spanish attorney general rejects 'criminal plot' allegations in Senate hearing

Attorney general denounces criminal network insinuations

Teresa Peramato appeared before the Spanish Senate's Justice Committee on 19 June 2026 for a hearing requested by the opposition People's Party (PP), which holds an absolute majority in the upper house. She strongly rejected suggestions that the Public Prosecutor's Office could be linked to what PP and Vox have described as a "criminal network." Peramato described such accusations as "an absolute lack of respect for the institution," insisting that the 2,804 Spanish prosecutors work "rigorously, with absolute impartiality and autonomy." She added that suggesting a connection to a criminal plot "puts the daily work of prosecutors under the horses' feet."

“To say that we are part of a criminal plot is to trample the daily work of prosecutors. The Public Prosecutor's Office cannot in any way be understood as linked to a criminal network.”

Leire Díez meetings and judicial cooperation

The central focus of the hearing was the so-called "Leire case," named after Leire Díez, a former Socialist Party activist investigated at the National Court for allegedly working to derail judicial probes affecting the government and PSOE. According to the articles, the previous leadership of the Prosecutor's Office held two meetings between April 2024 and June 2025 at the institution's Madrid headquarters with Díez and her lawyer, Jacobo Teijelo. Present at those meetings were Diego Villafañe, the then-deputy prosecutor of the Technical Secretariat, and Beatriz López, another senior official.

Peramato stated that her office had already submitted "all the information" to investigating judge Santiago Pedraz, but she refused to provide further details during the hearing, citing her "duty of confidentiality" while the judicial investigation remains open. "This is neither the venue nor the moment to make any observation on the matter," she told senators from PP and Vox, who pressed for specifics on the meetings.

Appointment policy and denial of purges

Members of the opposition also questioned Peramato about recent appointments that critics say have favoured prosecutors close to her predecessor, Álvaro García Ortiz. She defended her decisions as "grounded in merit, capacity and suitability for the post," saying her model seeks to consolidate the independence of the office through choices "exclusively in the service of the law." Peramato flatly denied accusations of a "purge," particularly the replacement of Madrid's then-chief prosecutor Almudena Lastra on 30 April 2026. "There has been no purge," she said, calling the claims an exaggeration.

“There has been no purge.”

Defense of prior prosecution in García Ortiz case

The hearing also touched on the Supreme Court case against former attorney general Álvaro García Ortiz, who was convicted for leaking an email belonging to the partner of Madrid regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso. Peramato maintained that the office conducted itself "with functional independence, subject to legality and with full respect for rights," and argued that the prosecution acted "exactly as the Constitution requires." She said the institutional stance of the office is solely to "promote the action of justice in defence of legality, the rights of citizens and public interest." The former attorney general's case is now pending before the Constitutional Court.