During the 2016 Spanish general election campaign, allegations emerged that left-wing party Podemos, which came third in the vote, had received funding from the Venezuelan government. Now, Moncloa.com and ElConfidencial.com report that then Interior minister Jorge Fernández Díaz (PP) had arranged police operations to investigate the alleged funding.
In audio recordings released by the media, a police officer sent by the minister to New York can be heard talking to Rafael Isea, who had been finance minister for Hugo Chávez. He says the minister, who had "spoke[n] with the Spanish prime minister" (who at that time was Mariano Rajoy), offered the former Venezuelan minister documents in Spain for whoever he might name, as well as a new identity or a new life, in exchange for him providing information about any payments made.
The voice in the audio is allegedly inspector José Ángel Fuentes Gago, then an attaché at the Spanish embassy in the Netherlands. The person told the Venezuelan politician, with their lawyer present, that he had "a mandate" from the interior minister and the prime minister to make the offer.
The conversation took place in the Spanish consulate in New York on 12th April 2016 and was secretly recorded by the police.