Spain's top prosecutor defends his innocence in leak trial

MADRID (Reuters) -Spain's top prosecutor, Alvaro Garcia Ortiz, who is on trial for allegedly leaking confidential information about a tax fraud case, told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that he did not leak the information.

The case has attracted intense political scrutiny as the tax fraud case involves Alberto Gonzalez Amador, who is the boyfriend of Isabel Diaz Ayuso. Diaz Ayuso is the regional leader of Madrid and a prominent figure in the conservative opposition People's Party (PP).

As such it has pitted Spain's minority leftist government against the PP and is one of several points of intense strain with the PP, which has accused the government of corruption and demanded its resignation.

The government has backed prosecutor general Garcia Ortiz, saying it believes him to be innocent.

LEAKED EMAIL EXCHANGE

Garcia Ortiz is accused of sharing with the media in March 2024 the contents of an email exchange between the regional prosecutor's office and the lawyer representing Gonzalez Amador.

In the leaked messages, the lawyer proposed that his client admit to two counts of tax fraud in exchange for a negotiated settlement to avoid imprisonment.

"I did not do it," Garcia Ortiz said as he took the stand on Wednesday for the first time in the two-week hearing, when asked if he had leaked the information, by phone or electronically.

"The first time I received the news (about the leak) was when El Mundo (newspaper) published a story citing the prosecutor's email," he added.

Several reporters and editors who testified earlier in the trial said Garcia Ortiz was not their source and that they had had access to the contents of the email before he did. They would not reveal their sources.

Police agents who wrote a report pointing to Garcia Ortiz as the source of the leak stuck by it in court on Wednesday.

Plaintiffs in the case, including Gonzalez Amador and far-right party Vox, are seeking a prison sentence for Garcia Ortiz of up to six years.

The prosecutor in the case is seeking his acquittal.

The trial is expected to wrap up on Thursday, with the ruling expected later on.

(Reporting by Emma PinedoEditing by Andrei Khalip and Frances Kerry)