The magistrate of Badajoz Beatriz Biedma holds that the exchanges of messages between the former socialist militant Leire Díez and the former magistrate Luis Sáenz de Tejada reveal constant communication aimed at “destroying” the case of David Sánchez, the brother of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, a procedure that she herself ordered.
Biedma sets this out in a document that Europa Press has obtained and that she has sent to the judge of the National Court Santiago Pedraz, who is in charge of investigating a supposed plot intended to obstruct judicial proceedings that affect the PSOE and that would have been led by the former socialist leader Santos Cerdán and coordinated by the former militant Díez.
The judge states that, “at the present procedural moment,” there are “rational indications of Sáenz de Tejada’s belonging to the criminal organization under investigation and of his full inclusion in the activity carried out by the same with the purpose of destabilizing the procedure” followed against David Sánchez for his hiring at the Diputación de Badajoz, a case that ended with a conviction for disqualification for a crime of prevarication.
As she details, “the number of messages” exchanged between Díez and Sáenz de Tejada “indicates continuous contact for the execution of the strategy to destroy” David Sánchez’s case and she emphasizes that “the period in which they took place coincides with the peak phase of the instruction of the procedure.”
She also insists that “there are indications of coordinated action aimed at collecting information, discrediting, pressuring and bringing about the removal” of Biedma from the investigation relating to the brother of the President of the Government.
Messages in groups and Sáenz de Tejada’s role
The magistrate emphasizes that the involvement of the former judge cannot be considered “incidental.” She bases this on a report from the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Guardia Civil, which states that in a WhatsApp group called ‘Vacaciones y viajes’, in which businesspeople Joaquín Parra and Javier Pérez Dolset would appear, as well as Díez and Sáenz de Tejada, 476 messages would have been sent.
The investigators believe this would have been “the main communication channel used with regard to this line of action,” and Biedma adds that, outside of that group, the former magistrate and Díez would have exchanged directly 176 additional messages.
The statement of Cintia Rocho and the narcotics trafficking environment
At another point, the judge again demands the declaration as a witness of Cintia Rocho, allegedly related to a group from Badajoz dedicated to drug trafficking. She does so after her testimony before the Guardia Civil, in which she stated that the former judge told her that Biedma "was a fucking thorn in the ass and that she had to be eliminated."
Although Pedraz initially rejected this testimony, Biedma reiterates that it is "necessary" to include it in the investigation, in view of the conversations between Rocho and Sáenz de Tejada and of an entry in Díez's diary in which she wrote "Judge of Badajoz. La Celsa. Heroin or Gypsy", a reference that would point to Rocho and other people linked to drug-trafficking activities.
In one of her reports, the UCO also describes how Sáenz de Tejada would have reached Rocho. According to the agents, both she and another witness, Ángel Martín, known as 'El Gitano', would have been under investigation for drug trafficking and crimes against life and would have "shown their disagreement with the decisions adopted" in those proceedings, which led them to express their complaints in a Facebook group called "Independencia Judicial Badajoz".
Based on those comments, the UCO concludes that Sáenz de Tejada "would have had knowledge of their respective cases, an interest which, in light of the facts that subsequently unfold, would have extended to the judges in charge of the respective proceedings. The former magistrate then contacted Rocho and assured her that 'in Badajoz there is a judicial mafia,' according to the investigators."
Subsequently, from the Facebook account identified as José Fernández Rodríguez —whose real identity Biedma now asks to be clarified— Rocho was contacted in order to raise with her the need to "do some cleaning" in the courts of Badajoz and that, for that purpose, she get in touch with Martín. She, however, refused to take part in such actions, the investigators conclude.