Judge summons alleged Badajoz clan figure Cintia Rocho as witness in Biedma plot probe

A witness summons in the Leire Díez case

Judge Santiago Pedraz, who investigates the Leire Díez case at the Audiencia Nacional in Madrid, has ordered Cintia Rocho to testify as a witness at 10:15 on 24 November. The order, a providencia that elDiario.es says it had access to, is dated 6 November, five days before the general election of 29 November. Rocho is a woman described in the press as the head of an alleged drug-trafficking clan from Badajoz, known by the nickname 'La Celsa'. The summons follows a written request from judge Beatriz Biedma, who handled the investigation into David Sánchez, the brother of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, and who filed it on Tuesday, 3 November.

What Rocho told the investigators

Rocho gave a statement to the Guardia Civil's Unidad Central Operativa (UCO), and a UCO report records her account. In it she said that Luis Sáenz de Tejada, a former judge, told her during a phone call that Biedma was a serious nuisance and had to be eliminated. She said she understood the phrase to mean causing 'physical harm'. According to La Razón, the contact first came through a Facebook profile called 'José García Fernández', which urged her to clean up the Badajoz courts, and when she declined, the former judge himself phoned her. Sáenz de Tejada denies the allegation, saying:

“I never spoke with her.”

The wider case and the timing

Pedraz has also agreed to add to the file the proceedings at Badajoz court number 3 on Sáenz de Tejada's attempt to join the David Sánchez case as a popular accusation, an attempt he also made through his sister, and his challenge to Biedma, whom he wanted removed from the case. The judge has asked Badajoz police for the report identifying the holder of the 'José García Fernández' profile. The Leire Díez case examines an alleged plan to disrupt judicial cases affecting the PSOE, the government and relatives of Pedro Sánchez. That plan is alleged to have been directed by Santos Cerdán, a former socialist official, and coordinated by Leire Díez, a former socialist activist. elDiario.es describes Sáenz de Tejada as a former judge who spent more than a decade campaigning against a group of judges in Badajoz and who keeps contacts with far-right conspiracy circles. Legal sources cited by elDiario.es expect the testimony to add little new, since Rocho has already given a statement to the Guardia Civil, but the judge decided to go ahead despite how close it falls to the vote.

Dates ahead

The next fixed date is Rocho's testimony at the Audiencia Nacional on 24 November at 10:15, followed by the general election on 29 November. The police report on the Facebook profile has been requested from Badajoz police and has not yet been delivered to the court.