Secret Agents Force Spanish Spy Chief to Quit

Spain's spy chief, Alberto Saiz, has been forced to resign after his own agents turned on him, employing the tricks of the trade to overthrow their boss at the country's National Intelligence Center (CNI).

In a constant flow of black propaganda over several months, disgruntled agents leaked photographs of Saiz's exotic fishing and hunting outings during business trips abroad and claimed that he even used the agency's divers to clean his swimming pool.

"Every time he goes abroad to work he takes his rifle or shotgun and takes days off to go hunting at the taxpayers' expense. Everything is free," an anonymous agency source told El Mundo newspaper.

Sources within the agency also alleged that night-time hunts for African pigs in Mali, fishing expeditions off Senegal, and underwater fishing in Mexico were all paid for with taxpayers' money. El Mundo reported Saiz used government funds to pay for at least six trips and sometimes flew in an air force jet.

The newspaper also alleged that CNI employees were called in to redecorate Saiz's house and that the agency was forced to buy potatoes off one of his relatives.

Saiz was eventually forced to show receipts for his excursions to a secret parliamentary committee. Government sources said there was no evidence he had used taxpayers' money to fund his pastimes but said his resignation had been accepted because he had lost control of the agency.

"The director wishes to reiterate that the accusations made against him are false," said a communique announcing Saiz's resignation. "He has presented documentary proof."

Saiz recently admitted the agency was rife with internal problems. He had been trying to expose rebel agents, some of whom were told to take lie detector tests.

He reportedly drew up a list of 60 agents who had rebelled against him – out of a total of 3,000 – whom he wanted to sack before leaving the job.

Saiz took over the agency shortly after it had failed to spot the March 2004 Islamist train bombings that killed 191 people in Madrid.

Agency spies are thought to have infiltrated the violent separatist group Eta. Last year they tracked down Eta leader Garikoitz Aspiazu, alias Cherokee, in an operation that led to his arrest by French police.

Eight CNI agents were killed in two separate incidents in Iraq before Saiz took over. It recently removed its agents from Cuba after they became embroiled in a scandal over the sackings of senior regime figures filmed criticizing the Castro brothers.

Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero yesterday won cabinet approval to appoint retired general Félix Sanz to take over the agency and impose discipline.