Alejandro Hamlyn had been on the run from Spanish justice since 2025 and was arrested this week in Abu Dhabi. The Basque businessman, owner of the energy group Hafesa, was wanted by the National Court after failing to appear in the trial for tax fraud committed through his company. By then, his name had already acquired another dimension: Hamlyn was one of the protagonists of the audios that placed Leire Díez at the center of an investigation into the search for compromising information against members of the Civil Guard and the Prosecutor's Office.
Interpol arrested him on Monday in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, where he resided. The action responds to an extradition request made by the Fourth Section of the Criminal Chamber of the National Court, according to police and legal sources confirmed to Europa Press and EFE. Spain is now starting the procedure to obtain his extradition, a process that could take several months.
His arrest revives a story that began long before Leire Díez appeared. Hamlyn had been under the scrutiny of the National Court for years due to his business in the hydrocarbon sector.
From Getxo to the hydrocarbon business
Hamlyn is a businessman originally from Getxo (Bizkaia) and owner of Hafesa, a group dedicated to the storage and marketing of hydrocarbons that came to manage strategic facilities for the distribution of fuels.
His family had been linked for generations to the Basque business world. Crónica Vasca points out that Hamlyn is the grandson of the shipowner José María López-Tapia and relates precisely that family tradition linked to the transportation of hydrocarbons with the origins of his subsequent business activity.
But it was Hafesa that ultimately placed the businessman at the center of a National Court investigation.
Judge José Luis Calama prosecuted him in 2021 within a case for tax fraud in the marketing of fuels. The Prosecutor's Office presented its indictment the following year and argued that the scheme had failed to collect more than 154 million euros in VAT between 2016 and 2019.
Hamlyn was identified as one of the main responsible parties.
The trial to which Hamlyn did not attend
The case finally went to trial, but Hamlyn did not sit on the bench.
His defense argued that the businessman could not leave the United Arab Emirates due to an ongoing procedure there for a fine. The National Court continued the process against the rest of the accused and ended up making an international request for Hamlyn.
The procedure continued without him.
Hafesa was sentenced to pay a fine of 152.4 million euros and fourteen executives also received sentences for the fraud, according to information from EFE. Hamlyn, having not appeared, remains pending trial.
The National Court then issued the request that ultimately led to his detention in Abu Dhabi.
Leire Díez enters the scene
While he was in the Emirates, Hamlyn starred in a videoconference meeting in February 2025 that would end up making him one of the pieces of the so-called Leire Díez case.
In that conversation participated Leire Díez, businessman Javier Pérez Dolset, and lawyer Jacobo Teijelo, in addition to Hamlyn himself. The meeting ended up being recorded and its audios appeared months later in the media before being incorporated into the judicial investigation.
The content was especially delicate.
In the recordings, Díez is heard inquiring about compromising information regarding Antonio Balas, lieutenant colonel of the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard, and about members of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. Hamlyn was being investigated precisely by a unit led by Balas.
The conversation publicly linked the businessman for the first time to a story that transcended his procedure for hydrocarbons.
What Leire Díez offered him
According to the investigation and the published audios, during that meeting, the judicial situation of Hamlyn and the possibility of obtaining information about the investigators were discussed.
Cadena SER points out that Díez appears proposing possible agreements with the Prosecutor's Office related to the fraud procedure while demanding compromising information about Antonio Balas. The recording ended up being incorporated into the open case regarding the actions of the former socialist militant. (cadenaser.com)
Hamlyn subsequently maintained a different version of what happened. In statements collected by El País, he claimed that they had tried to use him "as a political weapon" and asserted that he refused to collaborate in a supposed setup against the Civil Guard.
The Scientific Police has analyzed one of the files related to those conversations afterwards. A report initially sent to the Investigating Court number 9 of Madrid concluded that the recording was compatible with a conversation held by videoconference and ruled out indications that it had been recorded by a "third party stranger," according to Servimedia. (servimedia.es)
A second judicial claim
The case of Hafesa was not the only judicial problem of Hamlyn.
The judge of the National Court Francisco de Jorge also came to claim the businessman internationally within another investigation for revelation of secrets, related to an agent of the Judicial Police of the National Court itself.
This is a different procedure from the tax fraud of Hafesa and also different from the investigation into Leire Díez.
This separation is key to understanding the situation of the businessman: Hamlyn is related to several investigations, but for different facts and procedures.
From the audios to the arrest in Abu Dhabi
The situation changed this Monday, when Interpol located and arrested Hamlyn in Abu Dhabi.
The communication has already reached the National Court and the procedure now begins to obtain the extradition of the businessman from the United Arab Emirates to Spain. Sources consulted by Europa Press estimate that the extradition could take several months.
His return would allow him to face the trial that was pending after his absence and resolve his situation in the other procedures in which he is claimed.
The arrest occurs, moreover, when the investigation into Leire Díez has acquired a greater dimension. This same month, the judge in Madrid who began investigating the case accepted that the proceedings be transferred to the National Court, where an alleged structure dedicated to obtaining information about judicial procedures affecting the PSOE or the Government is being investigated. (elpais.com)
Hamlyn is thus positioned at the intersection of two stories that began separately: the million-dollar hydrocarbon fraud that brought him before the National Court and the audios that ended up making Leire Díez one of the protagonists of the judicial investigations of recent months.