Minister Marlaska denies knowing Leire Díez before the Senate: "I don't know her and I have never spoken with her"

The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, began his appearance this Tuesday before the Senate's 'Koldo case' commission by defending the Director General of the Civil Guard, Mercedes González, and denying any personal relationship with Leire Díez. The session began with a rough tone, many interruptions, and a first block focused on the former socialist militant's contacts with the Civil Guard's leadership.

Marlaska assured that he does not know Leire Díez and has never communicated with her. "I don't know her," he responded to the far-right Vox senator Ángel Pelayo Gordillo, after having explained to UPN senator María Mar Caballero that he has not exchanged "a single word" with her. The minister admitted, however, that Mercedes González informed him of a conversation in which "a person from the Socialist Party" had inquired about the possible rehabilitation of Commander Rubén Villalba, who is under investigation in the Koldo case and suspended from employment and salary.

According to Marlaska, that episode was indeed communicated to him because it caught the director's attention. "The Director of the Civil Guard told me that it caused her alarm," he explained. The minister maintained that González conveyed to him that there was "nothing to talk about" regarding Villalba and placed there the main reason for his trust in her: if she had wanted to hide something from him, he implied, she would not have informed him of that request either.

The opposition has accused the minister of changing his version regarding the meetings between Leire Díez and Mercedes González. Marlaska denied it. "I don't deceive, I say what I know," he replied to Caballero, before insisting that the director did not have to inform him of private meetings if they did not affect her duties. He also maintained that he has "no doubt" about González's "probity" and "good work."

The UCO and the clash with Vox

The most tense moment at the beginning of the appearance came with Vox. Gordillo asked Marlaska if he believes the Director of the Civil Guard more or the Central Operative Unit (UCO), arguing that their versions are contradictory. The minister rejected that interpretation and defended that the UCO works as judicial police under the dependence of judges and prosecutors, while he maintains ordinary office meetings with Mercedes González and has "absolute and full" confidence in her.

Marlaska has also harshly corrected the Vox senator when he spoke of an alleged subsequent meeting between González and Leire Díez after the maneuvers against the UCO became known. The minister has replied that, according to what he knows, there was talk of a communication, not a physical meeting. "Do not lie," he snapped at him. In addition, he added that, if a meeting in those terms had been proven, it would have been "a reasonable cause for dismissal."

The head of the Interior has refused to open his own internal investigation because the matter is already in court. "I was not going to interfere," he said, before defending that his obligation was to protect the work of the UCO and ensure that all relevant information reached the investigators.

Marlaska has also responded to calls for resignation, launched for the moment by UPN and Vox: "As long as I have the confidence of the Prime Minister, I will continue," he concluded. The appearance remains open in the Senate, with the opposition trying to establish contradictions between the Interior, the Civil Guard and the UCO reports, and with the minister insisting that the alleged plot was conceived outside his department.

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