Alberto Saiz, director of Spain's National Intelligence Center, asked his agents to doctor a photo to hide the fact he was out fishing on the taxpayers' dime. The top image shows Saiz, in the yellow circle. Saiz's head in the bottom image is replaced with the head of the man wearing tan clothes and sunglasses, second from the right. Not very sleuthy.
After calling it the “Worst Fauxtography Ever” in a headline, Powerline Blog writes: “Spain’s current scandal involves Alberto Saiz, director of the National Intelligence Center, who was accused of taking exotic trips on the Spanish taxpayer’s nickel…Saiz defended himself by putting out this picture of the fishing boat in question.”
It turns out the photo was a poorly Photoshopped image made by agents for the now former head of Spain’s spy agency.
Times Online reports the Spanish daily El Mundo as the source for the story. The newspaper said agents were ordered by Saiz to change his face in the incriminating fishing photo so he could claim he was not on the boat for this trip or other “private fishing and diving trips to Senegal, Mali, Morocco and Mexico.” Saiz even told the Spanish parliament on two occasions before being booted out : ‘I have never used public money to practice hunting or fishing.’ ”
Barcepundit writes: “But that’s not all: in the course of trying to defend himself, he did one of the dumbest phauxtography ever recorded…he produced an image in which he took the head of an agent with him, who also appeared in the picture, and put it on his body.”
Look at the man holding the sailfish in both photos above. The bodies in the yellow circles are identical. The only difference is the head. The man in the top image, the original photo, is Saiz. Saiz’s body in the image below got its head from the man, second on the right in a tan outfit wearing sunglasses. The photo fakers copied and pasted his head onto Saiz’s body. In the end, bad Photoshop work sunk him.
El Mundo cited “security sources” who “claimed that Mr. Saiz made six fishing and diving trips between 2004 and 2008.” On one, he used a government jet.
