Francisco Martínez, the former Secretary of State for Security, recently admitted in a recorded conversation that a controversial operation targeting Pablo Iglesias, which falsely attributed him a bank account containing $272,325 allegedly funded by the Venezuelan government, was known to be a fabrication by senior officials at the Spanish Ministry of the Interior.

This admission came to light during a discussion with Javier Pérez Dolset, a businessman claiming to be a victim of the dealings orchestrated by former police commissioner José Manuel Villarejo.

Martínez, who has been implicated in several cases regarding illegal police operations and was incarcerated until recently for unrelated charges involving cybercrime, noted that the false claims about the off-shore account in the Grenadines were disseminated to the press without proper verification.

He indicated that Eugenio Pino, then Deputy Director of Operations in the Spanish Police, leaked the information to a media outlet, allowing it to publish the misinformation without oversight from the Ministry.

In the recorded exchange, Martínez stated, "For example, the matter regarding the Grenadines, we knew perfectly well it was a lie, it was a forgery, yet it was published in _Ok Diario_ or some other outlet related to Inda.

Pino, Villarejo, or whoever, did not need to go through the ministry to pass information to a journalist."

Pérez Dolset commented that Villarejo claimed in audio recordings that Pino concocted the Grenadines account story, to which Martínez responded that someone provided the information to Pino, leading him to attempt to have it authenticated through official channels, which was unsuccessful.

This resulted in the information being leaked to the media.

Martínez further stated that Villarejo engaged similarly with journalists from _El Mundo_, indicating how information was manipulated within the channels of the Ministry.

The conversation also referenced operations against Catalan independence figures.

In a separate conversation from November 2012, Villarejo discussed with Martínez plans to target the Pujol family in Switzerland, coinciding with a police report claiming the family held significant sums in a Swiss bank.

This led to a publication by _El Mundo_ alleging that the Pujols had 137 million euros in Switzerland, despite the report lacking formal authentication.

Martínez asserted in his recent conversation that many illegal actions were driven by individual initiatives of police commissioners rather than directives from political leaders.

He expressed that if previous ministry officials had acted decisively against Villarejo's excesses, the current situation might have been averted.

He also speculated that similar tactics would continue against leaders of the political party Vox.

Nevertheless, documentation seized from Villarejo has not revealed audio evidence indicating that illegal activities were instigated during the previous socialist administration from 2004 to 2011.

Pérez Dolset, who is currently involved in legal proceedings related to alleged public subsidy fraud, has been investigating police corruption in the PP government alongside Leire Díez, a former socialist councilor.

Díez, who has faced scrutiny for her connections with various individuals implicated in Audiencia Nacional cases, has denied any wrongdoing, while her party has stated she was not acting under official orders from the PSOE.