The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, said this Wednesday that “Spain is a police state.” Just a few hours after it became known that the judge investigating the case of his partner, Alberto González Amador, for the alleged commission of two crimes of tax fraud and another of forgery in a commercial document, opens a new piece to investigate more possible crimesThe conservative baroness has made a harsh intervention during an event organized by The Confidential. There, surrounded by microphones and spotlights, Díaz Ayuso has made unprecedented statements to cast doubt on Spanish democracy, the independence of judges, the neutrality of institutions, and the role of President Pedro Sánchez, whom she has accused of bringing Spain the worst practices of Latin American politics, “advised” by former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

“Spain is already a police state,” said Díaz Ayuso. “Today we know that the Minister of the Interior will hand-pick the police officers who investigate judicial cases. That is, they will not investigate the corruption that affects their government, Sánchez, Begoña,” he said. “Spanish Television, from today totally muzzled by political control,” he continued in reference to the pact signed to change the parliamentary majority necessary to renew RTVE. “The judiciary, the police, the large public institutions are taken over by political activists,” he continued. And about his partner, González Amador, he said: “A private citizen also sees his tax return cut up and conveniently published, with derision, something that is completely illegal for being the boyfriend of a political adversary. This is a police state. That’s what it is.”

That message was not the result of improvisation, nor was there anything casual about it. Quite the opposite. It has been prepared in advance by the president and her team. This is demonstrated by the fact that Díaz Ayuso has read his intervention, and that his powerful chief of staff, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, has expressed himself almost at the same time in similar terms through a message on the social network X (formerly Twitter).

“Spain, police state,” wrote MAR, the acronym by which José María Aznar’s former Secretary of State for Communication is known. “The civil rights of a Spaniard are violated [por González Amador]: the Treasury [por la ministra María José Montero] “He says he will release classified information,” he continued. “Threats to the Press,” details Rodríguez, who precisely threatened the digital eldiario.es for investigating the case that affects the president’s partner, and then distributed a hoax about two informants from EL PAÍS. And it is over: “The Attorney General said: “I have information about many politicians that I am not going to use.” Brutal threat. Police state. “They’re going ahead!”

Gonzalez Amadorinvestigated along with four other people by the alleged commission of two crimes of tax fraud and another for falsifying a commercial document, allegedly defrauding more than 350,000 divided in two years. Thus, according to Treasury investigators, he declared expenses that his company never had for almost 1.8 million euros, which allowed him to avoid paying 155,000 euros in 2020 and 195,000 euros in 2021. After opening a new piece to investigate more possible crimes, Díaz Ayuso has made a very harsh intervention that has also mentioned the judiciary.

“Let us remember that the Constitutional Court and many judicial bodies have already been colonized by the Government; Let us remember the power of the Minister of the Interior over the Police; Let us remember the abuse of institutions,” he said, and then highlighted among the characteristics that in his opinion a police state has “extreme surveillance; use technologies to monitor and monitor citizens’ activities; political repression (…) significant restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly and the press; limited judicial intervention.” But it hasn’t stopped there. The president of Madrid has also said that in these cases, “the judicial system does not act independently or attempts to control it to support the government’s actions.”

And he concluded: “This is happening in Spain on October 23, 2024. I understand that there are those who cannot or do not want to see it, and who do not do it, but many of us have already warned.”

The facts that the judge has considered to expand the investigation into González Amador, according to the order dated this Wednesday, refer to fiscal year 2021when the businessman began billing his business with his main client, Quirón Prevention, with his own new company. That company was Masterman & Whitaker, which Amador acquired in December 2020. Until then, the businessman had used his company Maxwell Cremona for these services to the healthcare giant, which consisted of audits of management processes. Masterman would have operated as a shell company, according to the Treasury inspection, which described this operation as artificial, since that company did not have the personal or material means to carry out those audits. The judge has estimated that this activity could constitute crimes of corruption in business and unfair administration, after an appeal by PSOE and Más Madrid.

Corruption in business is punishable in article 286 bis of the Penal Code with sentences of between six months to four years, and unfair administration, in article 252 Penal Code, carries prison sentences of six months to three years.