The federal headquarters of the PSOE on Ferraz Street in Madrid woke up this Wednesday with agents from the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard at its door. The officers acted under the order of the National Court judge Santiago Pedraz. These are the questions hovering and the answers to what is known so far about the judicial investigation.
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Why did the UCO go to the PSOE headquarters? The agents appeared at Ferraz because Judge Pedraz ordered them to request various documentation and electronic files from the Socialist Party as part of an investigation into an alleged “plot aimed at destabilizing judicial procedures” affecting the PSOE or the Government. The judge maintains that the seriousness of the investigated facts, as well as the “high amount of economic transactions” under investigation, justify his decision to send agents to Ferraz.
What is the National Court investigating at this moment? The judge is investigating a series of payments from the PSOE to Leire Díez under suspicion that they were for carrying out alleged disinformation campaigns against judges, prosecutors, or members of the State Security Forces and Corps. Legal sources consulted by EL PAÍS deny that any signs of illegal financing of the Socialist Party have been detected so far and explain that the inquiries focus on money deliveries allegedly disguised with false invoices.
Who is Leire Díez? She is the woman who gives the case its name. A former PSOE member to whom the Public Prosecutor’s Office (in another procedure investigated in Madrid courts) already attributed the alleged “leadership” of a “criminal plan” to “discredit” the leadership of the UCO and the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office with the aim of “nullifying” cases “affecting politicians and businessmen.” Throughout the investigation, she has denied any wrongdoing and has presented herself as an investigative reporter who has been probing the so-called state sewer system for years.
This Wednesday, in an interview on Rac1, she framed the UCO’s action at Ferraz as a “continuous and constant attack, prospecting and based on fake news.” “It’s more of the same, what I have been living for a year,” she said.
Are there more people under investigation in Judge Pedraz’s case? Yes. This Wednesday, the National Court judge also agreed to direct the procedure against former PSOE Organization Secretary Santos Cerdán (who appears as investigated in the Koldo case), businessman Javier Pérez Dolset, former Presidency Counselor of the Andalusian Government Gaspar Zarrías, and lawyer Ismael Oliver. Also under investigation are lawyer Jacobo Teijelo (who has been in charge of Cerdán’s defense in the investigation into alleged rigging of public works) and Civil Guard Juan Sánchez Yepes. The list is completed by the manager of the PSOE Organization Secretariat, Ana María Fuentes Pacheco, as the alleged author of the crime of falsification in commercial documents for issuing false invoices and as an alleged accomplice in other crimes.
The judge warns that there are indications revealing the alleged collaboration of former Correos president Juan Manuel Serrano and PSOE deputy Juan Francisco Serrano. But for now, they are not listed as investigated. Pedraz warns that he will wait for the investigation to develop to “specify” their criminal responsibility.
Already listed as defendants in this case were the former president of the State Industrial Holdings Company (SEPI) Vicente Fernández and businessman Antxon Alonso (Cerdán’s partner).
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What crimes are being investigated in the National Court? Pedraz investigates acts that could constitute up to nine crimes: criminal organization, bribery, disclosure of secrets, inducement to false testimony, false accusation, falsification in commercial documents, prevarication, influence peddling, and crime against state institutions.
When did the investigation start? Díez’s name began to be mentioned before the National Court opened this case. Specifically, a year ago, in May 2025, when El Confidencial released audios in which Leire Díez was heard talking with businessman Alejandro Hamlyn (investigated in the National Court), lawyer Jacobo Teijelo, and businessman Javier Pérez Dolset.
From those audios, it was understood that the former PSOE member sought sensitive information about civil guards and prosecutors. Especially about Antonio Balas, the head of the UCO investigating cases such as those of Pedro Sánchez’s brother and wife. In exchange, she offered deals with the Prosecutor’s Office, State Attorney’s Office, or the Navarrese Treasury. Díez does not recognize herself in those recordings, which led a Madrid court to open an investigation in which, among others, Leire Díez herself, Cerdán, and two prosecutors who also reported an attempted bribe by the former socialist member have testified.
Separately, in December, Díez was arrested by order of the National Court, along with former SEPI president Vicente Fernández and businessman Antxon Alonso for alleged irregularities in public contracts. Investigators suspect that the three formed a structure between 2021 and 2023 for the alleged collection of presumably illegal commissions, “involving public companies and entities dependent on SEPI in their operation.” In total, the investigation delves into five operations amounting to 132.9 million euros.
It is within the framework of this case that Judge Pedraz has agreed to request information from the PSOE. Legal sources maintain that the judge has expanded his inquiries and that it is expected he will ask the Madrid court for everything it has investigated so that all facts are in the hands of the National Court.
Has Pedro Sánchez spoken out? Yes, the Prime Minister and leader of the socialists stated this Wednesday, during a press conference held in Rome (Italy) for his meeting with the Pope, that he was not aware of Judge Pedraz’s requests to the PSOE. He insisted that he did not want to downplay the “seriousness” of the investigation, while recalling that the party removed Leire Díez at the moment the case broke out and defended that the Ferraz manager, Ana María Fuentes, “has managed the accounts scrupulously.”
What will happen now? After agreeing on new charges in this procedure, Pedraz will have to summon the investigated to testify. For now, the judge has not set a date. The defendants must attend accompanied by a lawyer and may exercise their right not to testify if they wish. It is also expected that, after this Wednesday’s requests, the judge will lift the secrecy of the investigations so that the defenses can access their content.
![The audios of the ‘Leire Díez case’: “My next conversation will be with the director of the Civil Guard [...] she is someone I trust”](https://worldpressa.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/145c4fa71d5fb4bf00cd0ec28971be44.webp "The audios of the ‘Leire Díez case’: “My next conversation will be with the director of the Civil Guard [...] she is someone I trust”")
