From Madeleine to anti-ETA death squads, spy row agency was in demand

"Paquito was capable of the best and the worst. Although he charged astronomical prices, he could find a fraudster hiding in a Central American country. But when he got involved in political matters, his reports left a lot to be desired," says a former Método 3 employee of ex-boss Francisco Marco, who was arrested this week along with three of his detectives -- Julián Peribáñez, Álex Borreguero and Elisenda Villena -- in the midst of a political espionage scandal in Catalonia.

Método 3 was founded in 1985 and went bust last October after a checkered existence. One of its most famous cases was the hunt for Francisco Gaesa, a spy linked to the GAL government death squads set up to combat ETA in the 1980s. Gaesa faked his own death but Método 3 located him in Luxembourg in 2004.

The agency also participated in the search for Madeleine McCann, the British girl who vanished in the Algarve in 2007. Her parents contacted the agency to seek its help. In an interview, Marco said he would find her within six months. "That is very like Paco; he promises things he can't deliver," says the former employee, who accuses Marco of "selling plots on the moon. He would adapt to what he was asked for: if you thought your partner was on the take, he'd tailor the report so it looked like he was." Indeed, Método 3's adaptability has allowed it to work with parties across the political sphere but its relationship with the Popular Party (PP) is particularly strong.

Madeleine McCann's parents contacted the agency to seek its help

In 2008 the PP in Barcelona contracted Marco to ascertain whether a former police chief had been injured by a rubber bullet during celebrations to mark the Spanish soccer team's European Championship win. Without any proof, the agency reported he had lied. Marco also located 20 million euros stashed in an Isle of Man account in the name of Juan Antonio Roca, one of the key figures in the Malaya corruption case. The agency was behind the dossiers compiled on four former FC Barcelona vice presidents during Joan Laporta's reign. The intermediary was Xavier Martorell, then security chief at the club, a former police chief and now director general of prisons who is accused of ordering surveillance on ex-Catalan interior chief Felip Puig. The firm's name has also been linked to a political espionage case in Madrid involving high-ranking PP members and former Civil Guard officers.

In 2009, Método 3 was involved in trying to disprove a case of torture against four members of the Catalan police. Using a hidden camera, detectives filmed a witness in the case accepting money to give false testimony about an invented assault carried out by the four suspects.

Método 3's political operations mainly involved trawling databases and tracing wealth, says the ex-employee. The recording of Catalan PP leader Alicia Sánchez-Camacho was an "uncommon event," the sources state.