Else Beekman
Former Finance Minister Cristóbal Montoro allegedly used the Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT) to threaten and intimidate journalists who reported critically on his policies and personal ties, according to multiple testimonies now under judicial scrutiny.
In December 2012, Montoro made veiled warnings during a parliamentary session aimed at newspapers criticising his tax amnesty, later annulled by the Constitutional Court. He accused some media outlets of giving “ethics lessons” while owing “significant debts to the Treasury.” Although his department claimed these remarks referred to the sector generally, it was widely understood that specific outlets were being targeted.
Leaked email
Concerns that Montoro was improperly accessing confidential tax information persisted throughout his tenure. These fears were substantiated in a leaked 2017 email from José Manuel de Alarcón Estella, then head inspector at the National Office of Fraud Investigation (ONIF). This email revealed a detailed investigation into journalist Javier Chicote. The email, sent to AEAT director Santiago Menéndez, alleged fiscal risk due to Chicote invoicing via a company, despite his modest income of €70,000 gross annually.
The investigation followed Chicote’s exposés for ABC newspaper about payments from major IBEX-listed firms to Montoro’s former consultancy. “In June 2017, Montoro told people in Congress he was watching us closely,” Chicote recalled in a recent interview with La Sexta. “The report was chilling, it included information on my three-year-old daughter, my father’s inheritance, everything I had earned.”
Pressure behind closed doors
Chicote’s case was not an isolated one. Carlos Alsina, then director of La Brúzula on Onda Cero, recounted being summoned to the Finance Ministry, where Montoro attempted to coerce the station into more favourable coverage. When persuasion failed, Alsina said Montoro warned: “I’m the Finance Minister. I decide the VAT on digital books, and your shareholders won’t like it if I raise it.”
In a televised interview, Alsina concluded: “We’ll see how the court case against Montoro develops, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s already clear how he used power, to reward loyalty and punish dissent.”
Career and personal consequences
The most harrowing account came from journalist Francisco Quevedo, who told TVE’s Maqñaneros 360 of a downward spiral triggered by alleged targeting from Montoro. After publishing two critical books with Fernando Jáuregui, Quevedo claims Montoro confronted him at a Christmas reception at La Moncloa, threatening repercussions via the Tax Agency unless he softened his stance. When Quevedo refused, he says he endured wage garnishments, job loss, and deep personal hardship, culminating in a suicide attempt. “I’m still dealing with the financial fallout,” he said.
Surveillance concerns
Another journalist, from El País, reported similar intimidation after co-authoring a 2015 article about lucrative contracts awarded to Montoro’s former consultancy by officials from the Madrid region. A local PP Mayor later warned him that party insiders knew about his wife’s inherited plot of land. “How did they find that out?” he still wonders.
Ongoing judicial investigation
The testimonies now form part of an ongoing judicial investigation into whether Montoro abused his ministerial powers to orchestrate personal or political vendettas via the AEAT. In a related development, Montoro is also under investigation for his alleged role in a wider corruption scandal involving questionable public contracts and improper use of his former consultancy. Full article.
Sources: El País, Democrata.es