Madrid - A judge at Spain's National Court on Thursday summoned for questioning the author of a top secret document which shows that former conservative premier Jose Maria Aznar allowed the United States to fly terrorist suspects via Spain to its military base in Guantanamo, Cuba.

Judge Ismael Moreno called former senior official Miguel Aguirre de Carcer for interrogation as a witness on December 17. The judge did so despite not having received the original document, dating from 2002, which he had requested.

The document had been found in the archives of a Spanish-US permanent committee after disappearing from those of the Foreign Ministry.

The daily El Pais earlier published a copy of the document, sparking a controversy over whether Aznar and current Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had authorized illegal operations.

Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told parliament on Wednesday that Aznar had allowed US planes transporting prisoners to make stopovers in Spain, but that no stopovers actually took place. (dpa)