The National Court has ordered agents from the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard to go early this Wednesday to the PSOE headquarters, on Ferraz Street in Madrid, to request various documents related to “a plot to destabilize judicial proceedings affecting the party or the Government.” According to several legal sources, magistrate Santiago Pedraz has thus reactivated the investigation opened on Leire Díez, a former socialist member, who was already arrested last December. According to these same sources, the judge has also charged, among others, the party manager, Ana Fuentes; Santos Cerdán, former Secretary of Organization; Gaspar Zarrías, former Minister of the Presidency of the Andalusian Government; and businessman Javier Pérez Dolset. Pedraz has authorized searches of the homes of the latter three.
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In this way, the investigations of the National Court experience a major leap and expand their scope. According to these sources, Pedraz is also investigating lawyers Ismael Oliver and Jacobo Teijelo (the latter defended Cerdán in the case opened against him in the Supreme Court for the alleged public works rigging plot); and Civil Guard Juan Sánchez Yepes. He points to the existence of “indications” that Juan Manuel Serrano, former president of Correos; and socialist deputy Juan Francisco Serrano, “collaborated with the investigated parties in carrying out specific and isolated acts in aid of their illicit plan” — although, regarding both, the magistrate considers that it will be necessary to wait to see how the case evolves to “specify their criminal responsibility” —.
The case concerns the crimes of criminal organization, bribery, disclosure of secrets, inducement to false testimony, false accusation, falsification of commercial documents, malfeasance, influence peddling, and crimes against state institutions. It is also planned that agents will take statements from several people during the proceedings.
Legal and investigative sources confirm that the inquiries focus on suspicious payments from the PSOE to Díez and other people so that they would carry out alleged disinformation campaigns against judges, prosecutors, and members of the security forces, among others. These same sources, who deny that any indications of illegal financing of the socialist party have been detected so far, add that these money deliveries were allegedly disguised with false invoices. Díez tells this newspaper that she has not been informed that she has been charged with these facts.
Montse Mínguez, PSOE spokesperson, wanted to give a message of “calm” and cooperation this Wednesday during an interview on Catalunya Radio: “The Socialist Party is different from the PP and we have demonstrated it on many occasions. Here there is no destruction of evidence. Therefore, all the information that is requested will be provided,” she pointed out.
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Minutes after the operation became known, the opposition leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, again called for early elections. “We are in an agonizing situation, we are questioning the decency, not only of the government, not only of the Socialist Party, but we are already beginning to have a risk of contagion,” Feijóo said in the corridors of Congress before the control session of the Executive. Inside the chamber, the First Vice President of the Government and Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, defended “zero tolerance towards any type of irregular or illegal attitude or behavior” and called for “respect for judicial processes and the presumption of innocence.”
Within the case, an alleged corruption plot is also being investigated, for which Leire Díez herself; Vicente Fernández Guerrero, former president of SEPI (State Society of Industrial Participations); and Basque businessman Antxon Alonso, owner of the company Servinabar and friend of Santos Cerdán, former Secretary of Organization of the PSOE, were arrested in December. According to the investigation, the three — who used a WhatsApp group called Hiruro, “the three of us,” in Basque — allegedly formed a structure between 2021 and 2023 for the collection of allegedly illegal commissions, and for this, they had the help of “various public officials.” In total, the investigation focuses on five operations amounting to 132.9 million euros in aid and awards. All of them were accused of the crimes of malfeasance, embezzlement, influence peddling, and criminal organization.
Among the companies involved are Mercasa; Enusa; Principality of Asturias Business Park (PEPA); Sepides, attached to SEPI; Servinabar; Forestalia, a renewable energy company; and Tubos Reunidos, for which SEPI approved a 112.8 million euro bailout in 2021 (which had the required backing of the Council of Ministers). The kickbacks, which according to initial estimates exceeded 750,000 euros, were allegedly channeled through a company called Mediaciones Martínez S.L.
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With information from Irene Dorta, Rocío Martínez Posada and José Manuel Abad
