Politics · Spain · 2 hrs ago
Civil Guard chief confirms Marlaska called after Begoña Gómez email leak
Civil Guard official Manuel Llamas told a judge that Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska called him after personal details from Begoña Gómez’s email were disclosed.
The email address appeared in a document linked to an investigation in Badajoz involving David Sánchez, the brother of Spain’s prime minister.
The disclosure led the Civil Guard to investigate how the information became public; that inquiry ended without a formal penalty, though the agent responsible received a verbal warning.
Llamas also said Civil Guard chief Mercedes González was involved in starting internal inquiries into the leak and later into investigators in the force’s Central Operational Unit.
The judge is examining whether those later inquiries were meant to pressure investigators looking into cases involving people close to the governing Socialist Party.
Llamas is under investigation in that matter, and his written response does not say that Marlaska ordered the inquiry into the leak.
The judge sent Llamas’s letter to prosecutors and the other parties in the case for consideration.
Manuel Llamas, the Guardia Civil’s deputy operational director, told a judge that Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska called him after personal details from Begoña Gómez’s email address were published.
Llamas also said that Guardia Civil director-general Mercedes González called him and ordered a separate internal inquiry involving investigators.
The calls followed the publication of emails between Gómez and David Sánchez, the brother of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, in December 2024.
The internal inquiry into the email disclosure ended without a sanction, although the agent responsible received a verbal warning.
Judge Santiago Pedraz is examining whether internal checks on Guardia Civil investigators were justified or intended to pressure them.
- Who
- Manuel Llamas, deputy operational director of the Guardia Civil, told judge Santiago Pedraz about calls from Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska and director-general Mercedes González.
- What
- Llamas confirmed in writing that the minister called after personal details linked to Begoña Gómez’s email were disclosed.
- When
- The calls followed the disclosure in December 2024. Llamas’s letter was signed on October 13, 2026.
- Where
- The letter was sent to Spain’s National Court judge Santiago Pedraz.
- Why
- The calls concerned the consequences of disclosing personal data belonging to people outside a Guardia Civil investigation.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
An internal reserved inquiry was opened after the disclosure of personal details from Begoña Gómez’s email address.
The separate internal inquiry into investigators concluded without finding responsibility.
Llamas signed a letter to Judge Santiago Pedraz describing calls from Grande-Marlaska and González.
Pedraz added the letter to the proceedings and sent it to the public prosecutor and other parties.
- Officials named
- Manuel Llamas; Fernando Grande-Marlaska; Mercedes González
- Judge
- Santiago Pedraz, National Court
- First internal inquiry
- 1/24, opened in December 2024
- Separate internal inquiry
- 1/25, opened in 2025
- Outcome of email-leak inquiry
- No sanction; the responsible agent received a verbal warning
3 sources
La directora de la Guardia Civil sólo se interesó por las investigaciones de la UCO que afectaban al PSOE
El DAO reconoce ahora la intervención directa de Marlaska por la filtración del correo de Begoña
El DAO de la Guardia Civil confirma por escrito al juez que Marlaska le llamó tras filtrarse el correo de Begoña
What people are saying
The director-general herself was at the origin of it, through a call, as well as another from the Interior Minister
The reason for that report was none other than that the director-general herself was at the origin of it, through a call, as well as another from the Interior Minister
For that reason, it was considered necessary and appropriate to communicate what had been done about it