The Spanish Prosecutor's Office is facing a deepening crisis after revelations that its senior officials held clandestine meetings with Leire Díez, a fixer for the Socialist Party (PSOE) who is under investigation for her role in an alleged extortion plot against an anti-corruption prosecutor. According to documents obtained by El Mundo, Diego Villafañe, the right-hand man of Attorney General Álvaro García Ortiz, met at least twice with Díez and her lawyer Jacobo Teijelo at the Prosecutor's Office headquarters in Madrid. No official record was kept of these encounters, raising questions about transparency and potential interference in ongoing investigations.

The scandal has drawn sharp criticism from the Association of Prosecutors, which has demanded that the Attorney General clarify who authorised the meetings. The association expressed "profound indignation" at what it called an "insufficient response" from the Prosecutor's Office regarding the presence of a person linked to a criminal group that sought to act against state institutions and prosecutors. The controversy comes just months after García Ortiz was convicted for his role in a separate leak case, further eroding confidence in the institution's independence.

At the heart of the matter is a broader web of influence-peddling allegedly orchestrated by Santos Cerdán, the PSOE's former organisational secretary. Leire Díez is accused of acting as a liaison between Cerdán and business figures, including Nervis Villalobos, a former Venezuelan deputy minister wanted for money laundering. In a WhatsApp exchange, Díez claimed she had tried to speak with "Félix"—presumed to be Félix Bolaños, Spain's Minister of the Presidency and Justice—about expediting Villalobos's Spanish nationality application. The minister has not commented on the allegation.

Further evidence suggests Díez held meetings at the offices of Servinabar, a Navarre-based company where Cerdán was a secret partner. Her personal notebooks, cited in the judicial investigation, record discussions about 29 potential public-sector contracts during a single meeting in July 2021. At the time, Díez was working closely with Vicente Fernández, former chairman of the state-owned industrial holding company SEPI, who has also been linked to the affair.

Viewed from Brussels, the scandal underscores persistent concerns about the politicisation of Spain's judicial system. Analysts in London note that the revelations could undermine the government's anti-corruption credentials, particularly as it seeks to project stability ahead of European elections. With the Prosecutor's Office already under judicial scrutiny for its handling of the case, the coming weeks are likely to see further calls for accountability and structural reform to restore public trust in Spain's rule-of-law institutions.