The judicial investigation into two agents of the National Intelligence Center (CNI) accused of stealing secret information and allegedly passing it on to the United States has entered a new phase. Examining Magistrate Court number 7 in Madrid has concluded the inquiry and has forwarded the case file to the Provincial Court, which will now have to process the preliminary steps for a possible trial. The Public Prosecutor’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office still have to submit their briefs of charges. The two individuals under investigation were arrested in 2023, were later released, and deny the accusations.
The inquiries began after the CNI internal controls detected access to documentation that did not correspond to one of the agents’ job functions. The review of those movements led to the other individual under investigation, a former head of the Russia unit, who also would have consulted information outside his work area, according to the reconstruction of El País.
The analysis of the devices and the documentation made it possible to count 288 files extracted from the agency. According to the newspaper, among them there was information about human sources, operational activity, deployments abroad, internal structure, and connections of people related to diplomatic missions. The documents affected areas such as the European Union, NATO, China, Venezuela, Morocco, and the Strait of Gibraltar.
The CNI considered that the extraction could compromise years of counterintelligence work and put at risk the identity and security of some of its sources. The investigation points to a possible delivery of information to U.S. services, a point that the individuals under investigation deny and that will have to be proven during the proceedings.
What remains to be resolved at the Provincial Court
The conclusion of the investigation opens the intermediate phase of the procedure. The Public Prosecutor’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office will have to submit their briefs to specify the facts they attribute to each person under investigation, the legal classification, and the penalties they request. After that, the Provincial Court will have to rule on any pending procedural issues and decide whether to open the oral trial.
The defense denies that their clients committed the offenses attributed to them. According to El País, they question the secret nature of part of the files and argue that it has not been demonstrated that the information reached another country or that the agents received money for facilitating it.
The investigation also had consequences in the diplomatic sphere. According to information published by El País, the Spanish Government requested explanations from the U.S. ambassador and at least two U.S. agents assigned in Madrid were expelled for their alleged involvement in recruitment.
Why CNI information is protected as a secret
The Law 11/2002, regulating the CNI, establishes that their activities, organization, structure, means, procedures, personnel, facilities, databases, and sources of information have the character of secret. Protection also extends to data that would make it possible to know any of those elements.
The regulation assigns to the CNI the mission of providing the Government with information and analysis to prevent and avoid threats to Spain’s independence and territorial integrity, national interests, and the stability of the rule of law. To carry out that function, the agency obtains and evaluates information both within and outside the national territory.
The crime of treason being investigated is set out in article 584 of the Criminal Code. This provision establishes prison sentences of six to twelve years for the person who, with the purpose of favoring a foreign power, an association, or an international organization, seeks to obtain, falsifies, renders useless, or reveals information classified as reserved or secret that could harm national security or defense.
The application of this article requires proving both the conduct attributed and the purpose of favoring a foreign power. The existence of extracted files does not, by itself, prove that they were delivered to another country or that all elements of the crime were present. Those issues must be resolved in the judicial procedure.
The precedent of Roberto Flórez, convicted of treason
The case has a precedent in the conviction of the former CNI agent Roberto Flórez, considered the first member of Spain’s Intelligence services convicted of treason. In 2010, the Provincial Court of Madrid initially imposed on him a sentence of twelve years in prison for obtaining secret documentation with the intention of offering it to Russian Intelligence services.
The ruling considered proven that Flórez had gathered classified information and had expressed his willingness to cooperate with Russia, although it was not established that the handover ever came to be carried out. The Supreme Court confirmed the conviction for treason, but reduced the sentence from twelve to nine years.