Complaint Procedure Justified
Fiscalía General justifies García Ortiz's management of a complaint against Sánchez's brother's judge as habitual procedure.
Spain's Attorney General Álvaro García Ortiz personally handled the forwarding of a complaint against the judge investigating Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's brother — and his office now says it was nothing more than a routine bureaucratic step. The Fiscalía General issued a statement on June 12, 2026, defending García Ortiz's involvement as a "trámite establecido y habitual" (an established and habitual procedure) under Article 11 of its Organic Statute. La Opinión de A Coruña and Diario de Mallorca reported the development as new court documents emerged during David Sánchez's trial in Badajoz.
The complaint was filed by Luis José Sáenz de Tejada — a former judge convicted of domestic abuse who served 33 months in prison. According to investigators in the "Caso Leire" probe, Sáenz de Tejada was part of a coordinated effort to sabotage the case against David Sánchez. Judge Beatriz Biedma, who leads the Badajoz investigation, later rejected his attempt to join the case as a formal accuser, calling it an "abuse of rights."
A Complaint Timed to the Day Sánchez Became a Suspect
The timing of the second complaint against Judge Biedma raised immediate red flags. It was filed on November 27, 2024 — the exact same day Biedma formally named David Sánchez as an official suspect (*investigado*) in the case. The complaint was routed through the Fiscalía General and redirected to the Fiscalía Superior of Extremadura. La Opinión de Málaga and LNE reported these details from newly surfaced summatory documents.
An earlier complaint by Sáenz de Tejada, filed weeks before, had already been rejected on October 31, 2024 by the Head of the Technical Secretariat of the Fiscalía, who said the office lacked competence to act on it. Despite that rejection, a second complaint reached García Ortiz's desk — and this time it moved forward. Critics say that sequence is hard to explain as purely routine.
UCO Investigators Found a Written Plan to Destroy the Case
Spain's Guardia Civil intelligence unit, the UCO, identified what it described as a coordinated campaign to neutralize Judge Biedma. The key piece of evidence: an entry in the personal agenda of Leire Díez, a former PSOE militant under investigation, dated September 11, 2024. It reads, "Paso 1: destruir procedimiento" — Step 1: Destroy procedure. The UCO described Díez as a PSOE "fixer" allegedly tasked with protecting the party from judicial scrutiny.
A final UCO report, released on May 26, 2026, found evidence of a plot to "annihilate" Biedma through legal harassment. It included alleged secret surveillance of the judge and her children at their school. Four major judicial associations — APM, AJFV, FJI, and AF — issued a joint statement demanding the CGPJ (Spain's Judiciary Council) protect Biedma from what they called "extortion and institutional pressure."
What David Sánchez Is Accused of — and What It Cost Taxpayers
At the center of the case is David Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, the Prime Minister's brother. He has been accused of holding a "ghost" job at the Badajoz Provincial Council since 2017, earning roughly €55,000 per year while reportedly living in Portugal. Prosecutors say he collected a total of €340,000 in public funds for work investigators say was never performed. Popular accusations in his Badajoz trial have asked for up to six years in prison for influence peddling and prevarication, according to El Periódico Mediterráneo.
Pro-government outlets including El País and RTVE have framed the case as a politically motivated "hunting trip" (cacería) driven by far-right group Manos Limpias, which originally filed the complaint in May 2024. They note the Badajoz court already cleared Sánchez of illegal appointment charges due to the statute of limitations. Opposition parties PP and Vox, however, accuse the Fiscalía of acting as David Sánchez's "defense attorney" throughout the proceedings, according to La Provincia.
García Ortiz Under Fire as Institutional Fault Lines Deepen
The Fiscalía General insists García Ortiz had no choice but to forward the complaint. "The Attorney General does not choose which complaints to process; he fulfills a legal obligation to redirect them to the competent body," the official statement read, as reported by La Opinión de A Coruña. But judicial associations and opposition parties argue that personal management of a complaint tied to the Prime Minister's family crosses a clear ethical line.
The fallout is spreading inside the Fiscalía itself. Progressive prosecutors have reportedly begun withdrawing their support for García Ortiz. Meanwhile, the "Caso Leire" and the David Sánchez trial have damaged the ruling PSOE in the polls — the party's lead over the opposition PP has narrowed to just four points, according to the latest CIS data cited by El Correo Gallego. If investigators prove García Ortiz bypassed protocols, he could face charges of prevarication or obstruction of justice.
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