The former director of the Civil Guard denies before Judge Pedraz that he ordered the UCO to "turn a blind eye" to Sánchez's brother

The former director general of the Civil Guard Leonardo Marcos denied this Thursday before Judge Santiago Pedraz that he pressured the Central Operative Unit (UCO) to stop the investigation into David Sánchez, brother of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez. Marcos has testified as an investigated party in the Audiencia Nacional within the 'Leire Díez case' and has denied having asked agents to "stay on the sidelines" or to leave the investigations "at nothing."

His version clashes with that offered during the investigation by Rafael Yuste, head of the UCO between 2023 and 2025, and Alfonso López Malo, then head of Judicial Police. Both placed the former director in two meetings held on July 12, 2024, in which, they reported, he showed his discomfort with the actions proposed by the unit in the case opened in Badajoz.

Marcos has admitted that he asked the chain of command to accelerate the analysis of the more than 60,000 intercepted emails and to finish the corresponding report as soon as possible. According to sources present at the declaration, he urged those responsible to "hurry up a lot," although he has denied that he demanded a favorable outcome for David Sánchez or that he proposed leaving investigators without vacation.

The former director has placed those conversations in his suspicions about a "culture of leaks" within the Civil Guard. He recalled that a television crew was waiting for the agents during a search carried out at the Diputación de Badajoz and assured that certain information always appeared in the same media and was signed by the same journalists.

Marcos also explained that it seemed "striking" to him that the central UCO assumed an investigation into events that occurred in Badajoz, a demarcation corresponding to the National Police. The unit's intervention had been agreed upon by Beatriz Biedma, the magistrate in charge of investigating the hiring of David Sánchez at the Diputación pacense.

Two opposing versions about the July meetings

The former UCO commanders offered a different account. Yuste declared that Marcos was "angry and upset" because he had learned from third parties about the proceedings proposed to the judge and that he reproached his subordinates for the report reaching the court without his prior knowledge. According to his testimony, the then director demanded another document in which "everything analyzed and nothing there" appeared before July 19.

Marcos has denied those words and has defended that he only demanded rigor and speed, without intervening in the conclusions of the investigators. He has also rejected having described the UCO's actions as "prospective and malicious," has assured that he never opened reserved investigations against its agents, and has stated that he did not even know Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Balas, the direct head of the investigations.

The former director, who was in charge of the Armed Institute between June 2023 and September 2024, has answered questions from the Prosecutor's Office and his lawyer. He has declined to answer the Popular Party, which is acting as a popular prosecution and requested his indictment after learning of the unit commanders' statements.

Pedraz is investigating a possible plot aimed at obstructing judicial proceedings affecting the PSOE, the Government, or Pedro Sánchez's inner circle. The case places former socialist militant Leire Díez as the coordinator of the operations and attributes a central role to former PSOE Organization Secretary Santos Cerdán. Both are listed as investigated, and the accusations remain pending what the investigation determines.

Before Marcos, the chief prosecutor of Badajoz, José Luis Alonso Tejuca, appeared as a witness, and he denied having received pressure from the Attorney General's Office. Alonso explained that he sent a complaint against Leire Díez to the then deputy prosecutor of the Technical Secretariat, Diego Villafañe, and that he received an eight-page report that returned jurisdiction to Badajoz.