A case unprecedented in the last 50 years has begun in the Supreme Court of Spain. The country's Attorney General, Alvaro Garcia Ortiz, is in the dock.
Spain's top prosecutor has been accused of revealing confidential information in a tax fraud case against Alberto Amador, partner of the Prime Minister of the autonomous community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso. Investigators say Ortiz shared with the media an email sent by Amador's lawyer to the prosecutor overseeing the case.
In the letter, the lawyer admits that his client committed two crimes against the treasury and offers a deal that would spare him an effective sentence.
Forty witnesses are expected to be questioned during the hearings in the Supreme Court.
Ortiz himself has categorically denied having disclosed or ordered the disclosure of confidential information. If found guilty, the attorney general could face a sentence of four to six years in prison and up to twelve years of disqualification from holding public office.
A commission in the Spanish Congress is launching its own investigation into the causes that led to the deaths of 237 people in the floods in Valencia. More than 100 people are expected to be heard.
The committee's work plan includes two main phases. The first is to investigate the causes that led to the deaths of hundreds of people. Victims of the natural disaster and representatives of the victims' families will speak to the deputies. After that, the chairman of the opposition Popular Party, Alberto Nunes Feijoo, the regional premier of Valencia, Carlos Masson, and the former interior minister in his government, Salome Pradas, will be summoned for a hearing.
The committee members have requested hundreds of documents to establish what actions were taken and who is responsible for the tragedy.
The second phase of the committee, which has theoretically approved a work schedule that could last a year, will focus on the reconstruction of the affected areas, and at this stage, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and eight ministers from his cabinet will be summoned.