Hydrocarbon fraud: the common thread with Leire Díez

The name of Leire Díez, a former PSOE member who has held public office and who claims to be conducting an investigative report as a journalist, has burst onto the political scene with controversy following the publication of several recordings showing her holding meetings to obtain information against the head of the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard, Antonio Balas, the department in charge of major investigations affecting the government, such as the Ábalos case, the Begoña Gómez case, and the David Sánchez case. Díez claims she was involved in these meetings as conducting an investigation into hydrocarbons, without offering further details.

In one of the published meetings, Díez requests compromising information about the head of the UCO from another businessman, Alejandro Hamlyn, accused of hydrocarbon fraud. Present at that meeting was Jacobo Teijelo, the lawyer for one of the suspects in a second case involving this type of fraud. To complicate matters further, Víctor de Aldama, another businessman and broker investigated in a third hydrocarbon case, unexpectedly appeared at Díez's appearance at a Madrid hotel last Wednesday. What connection is there between them to create such an alliance?

The National Court has several open cases for multi-million dollar hydrocarbon frauds.

Currently, several cases are open in the National Court against business owners for these scams, claiming they have failed to declare hundreds of millions in VAT to the Treasury. According to various reports, those investigated in these cases have been seeking the annulment of the proceedings for months, alleging a sort of conspiracy between Civil Guard officers and business owners in the sector to file anonymous complaints and thus eliminate their competitors. All of this is in exchange for rewards for these officials. In Operation Drake, for which Hamlyn is accused and summoned to trial on the 10th, several lawyers have already requested the annulment of the case on this grounds.

Diario Red reported in January that Teijelo, as the lawyer for a Civil Guard captain under investigation, insinuated that there was a corruption network operating within the UCO (Spanish Civil Guard Unit). For years, the Tax Agency has been warning of the increase in this VAT fraud in the hydrocarbon sector, linked to the considerable increase in gasoline prices. These fraud schemes involve those involved using newly created companies to legally purchase fuel wholesale, purchases on which the tax is not borne. These companies sell the fuel to service stations for a lower price, adding VAT, but do not pay the amounts to the Treasury. To avoid detection, companies are constantly changing using front men.

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In the meeting leaked to the media between Díez, Hamlyn, and Teijelo, among others, the common front is to discredit the UCO, each pursuing their own interests, although all deny it. Díez's alleged investigative work clashes with the figure who accompanies him and has established himself as a kind of protector, even accompanying him to his appearance: businessman Javier Pérez Dolset. He has nothing to do with hydrocarbons or the UCO. In his case, he is under investigation by the National Court, but the body in charge of the investigation was the Police Economic and Tax Crime Unit (UDEF). However, according to various interviews he has been giving these days, he is allegedly helping Díez uncover the police and judicial sewers. They all feel like victims, but sources involved in the investigation maintain that they are seeking to maneuver with spurious arguments to avoid assuming criminal responsibility.

And in all of this, Aldama appears. In addition to being investigated for hydrocarbon fraud, he is also the businessman who has admitted to paying illegal kickbacks to former Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos. To secure his release, he targeted other members of the government, Ferraz, and even implicated Pedro Sánchez. That's why he says that group has threatened him if he continues speaking out. But that's a different story.

Marlaska, Cerdán and Díez, summoned to the Senate

The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the secretary of organization of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), Santos Cerdán, will be summoned to appear again before the Senate's commission of inquiry into the Koldo case at the request of the People's Party (PP), which holds an absolute majority in the Lower House. This time, they will be asked to give explanations regarding the former Socialist party member Leire Díez, who will also be summoned. Yesterday, the PP registered an extension to the commission's work schedule with 15 new requests for those appearing. It is requesting that the former president of Correos (the Post Office), who appointed Díez as Director of Philately, Juan Manuel Serrano; the director of the Civil Guard, Mercedes González, and her predecessor in the position, María Gámez; as well as the former Secretary of State for Security, who resigned last week, Rafael Pérez, among others, also testify.