The SEPI branch of the Leire case has placed Félix Azcona Lacarra, Director of Internal Management at the State Industrial Participation Company (SEPI), under investigation. His involvement once again reaches the administrative core of the public body and reinforces one of the most sensitive lines of inquiry in the case: whether the alleged influence network had access to internal information, sensitive files, or contacts within SEPI itself.
Azcona ranks among the 25 people called in as suspects by Judge Santiago Pedraz within the inquiry looking into alleged wrongdoings concerning public corporate deals, state subsidies, and strategic business entities. The judicial probe is analyzing potential crimes encompassing influence peddling, judicial prevarication, embezzlement, criminal syndicates or associations, and the abuse of insider data. At this point, holding suspect status does not equate to a guilty verdict or liability, though it does mandate that he provide an account before the National Court regarding his specific involvement in the documents under review.
His position is particularly relevant because Internal Management is a key area within any public-sector business organization. Such a structure handles procedures, documentation, administrative processes, internal communications, and essential elements for reconstructing how decisions are processed. Therefore, Azcona’s inclusion on the list of suspects cannot be regarded as a minor detail: it affects an area responsible for internal oversight within SEPI.
According to published reports, Azcona operated within the framework headed by Miguel Ángel Santiago Mesa, the Corporate Director of SEPI, alongside other internal personnel like Rosario Martínez Manzanedo, whose duties involved project assessment. Their connection to the inquiry stems from their alleged involvement, across varying degrees of accountability, in documentation currently subject to judicial review.
The case highlights multiple questionable transactions, encompassing the €112.8 million rescue package for Tubos Reunidos, operations tied to Mercasa and ENUSA, deals concerning the Parque Empresarial Principado de Asturias, and activities linked to Forestalia. El País has pointed out that the National Court is currently examining five deals totaling €132.9 million in state support, through which the suspected ring apparently secured over €750,000 in kickbacks.
The most sensitive issue surrounding Azcona is the suspected access to or circulation of internal information. Some media outlets have reported that investigators are examining allegedly fluid communications between SEPI officials and the organization’s former president, Vicente Fernández, considered one of the central figures in the group under investigation alongside Leire Díez and Antxon Alonso. The issue that must now be clarified is whether Azcona provided information, participated in administrative procedures, or in any way intervened in sensitive files, or whether his actions were limited to his ordinary duties within the organization’s administrative structure.
The investigation is not examining only final decisions, but also the process through which those decisions were reached. In a case involving alleged influence over public aid, it is just as important to establish who approved a transaction as it is to determine who prepared the files, who had access to the documentation, who reported on internal procedures, and who may have been able to open doors within the organization. This is where the position of an Internal Management director becomes particularly significant.
Azcona’s inquiry strengthens the belief that the suspected ring might not have functioned exclusively outside SEPI. Should authorities deem it essential to interrogate staff members within the entity, it is due to their efforts to map out potential pathways for communication and sway inside the organization. Such an avenue of investigation poses a severe threat to institutional reputation, given that any network of influence depends heavily on data, connections, and access. Ultimately, the judiciary will need to establish whether such factors were present and identify who might have supplied them.
Politically speaking, the incident tarnishes SEPI’s reputation as a professional and well-regulated state body. The organization oversees public assets, monitors vital enterprises, and served a pivotal function in the financial rescues authorized amid the health crisis. Should its internal divisions have been subjected to coercion, unauthorized disclosures, or communications bypassing standard protocols, the issue would extend beyond potential criminality, simultaneously sparking serious worries regarding governmental oversight.
Félix Azcona will need to clarify before the judge the exact responsibilities he handled in Internal Management, which dossiers crossed his desk, the nature of his interactions with other co-defendants, and whether he ever communicated with Vicente Fernández or affiliates of the Hirurok conglomerate. Furthermore, establishing whether he could view or take part in the Tubos Reunidos dossier—a central pillar of the investigation—and if his procedures aligned with SEPI internal regulations remains essential.
His name is now part of an investigation involving public funds, strategic companies, multimillion-euro bailouts, and alleged commissions. The fact that SEPI’s Director of Internal Management appears on the list of individuals under investigation makes it necessary to demand full transparency regarding the organization’s files, communications, and internal controls.
The SEPI branch of the Leire case continues to draw a troubling map: public officials, businesspeople, former executives, technical staff, and internal managers all under judicial scrutiny. Within that map, Félix Azcona Lacarra represents a particularly important piece in determining whether SEPI was the target of external pressure or whether, instead, the alleged network found useful channels within the organization through which to operate. That is the question the National Court must now answer.
Source: El País, Infobae, El Independiente, RTVE, Cadena SER, Diario de Navarra, and La Gaceta.
