Álvaro García Ortiz has stepped down from his role as Spain’s attorney general, a decision coming less than a week after the country’s Supreme Court convicted him for disclosing private information and handed down a two-year suspension from office, according to Euronews.
The conviction pertained to the leaking of confidential details about Alberto González Amador, a businessman who was under investigation for alleged tax fraud and who is the partner of Madrid’s influential regional leader, Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
The outgoing attorney general announced his departure in a formal letter addressed to Justice Minister Félix Bolaños on Monday. In his correspondence, García Ortiz stated that he was choosing to leave before the Supreme Court executed his disqualification out of what he described as “deep respect” for judicial rulings and his “ever-present desire to protect the Spanish Public Prosecutor’s Office.”
The resignation follows a months-long investigation and trial that concluded last Thursday, with the top court finding García Ortiz guilty of sharing the private information.
In his resignation letter, he contended that while the decision “derives directly” from the Supreme Court’s ruling, he departs with the conviction of having served the institution “with a vocation for public service, a sense of duty and institutional loyalty.”
In addition to the two-year suspension, the court ordered him to pay a €7,200 fine, €10,000 in damages to González Amador, and to cover the associated court fees.
The resignation will not become official until the Council of Ministers gives its approval, an event anticipated to occur on Tuesday, followed by publication in the Official State Gazette. García Ortiz could theoretically have remained in his post until the Supreme Court issued its full, reasoned sentence, but he opted to resign instead.
The Spanish government, responding to the development, said that it “respected the decision but does not share it.”
The departure of García Ortiz now obliges the government to appoint a new head of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, who will be the fourth individual to hold the position since Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez first took office in June 2018.
This rapid turnover sees García Ortiz following his predecessors, María José Segarra and Dolores Delgado, who also resigned from the post. In Delgado’s case, her resignation was prompted by health problems.
The incident marks a significant moment for Spain’s judicial and political establishment, underscoring the tensions that can arise between high-level officials and the legal boundaries they are sworn to uphold.
