New details have emerged in a widening corruption scandal involving individuals linked to Spain’s Socialist Party (PSOE).
Authorities suspected they siphoned off tens of millions of euros in public funds.
Investigations into alleged irregularities in public contract awards under the political leadership of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez showed that ex-rail chief Isabel Pardo de Vera was allegedly implicated via her husband.
She was a civil engineer and former president of ADIF (Spain’s railway infrastructure manager) from 2018 to 2021, as well as secretary of state for infrastructure, transport, and housing from 2021 to 2023.
News outlet El Debate reported that her husband Juan Manuel Álvarez, a real estate developer, was also suspected of alleged corruption.
He was alleged to have profited from the sale of luxury flats built on land owned by the publicly‑owned rail company.
“The land went to auction and, after a bidding process marred by reported irregularities, it was awarded to him at below market value. At the time, Pardo de Vera was serving as ADIF’s [politically appointed] Director of Operations and Construction,” El Debate wrote.
According to the Spanish outlet’s claims, this earned Álvarez €22 million and was now under investigation as part of a broader alleged corruption probe with both Álvarez and Pardo de Vera facing scrutiny from the Civil Guard and Spain’s Supreme Court.
Álvarez’s flats were so high in demand that interested buyers had to pay €1,000 just to be allowed on an opt-in list, according to reports.
While having paid €2.05 million for the land, close to €22 million was allegedly secured from property sales.
The Spanish Supreme Court, in a decision reported on June 20, 2025, called for Pardo de Vera and Javier Herrero, another former ADIF executive, to be investigated for their alleged roles in rigging public works contracts.
On June 26, the Central Operational Unit (UCO) searched Pardo de Vera’s homes in Madrid and northern Spain.
They also went to the headquarters of ADIF and the Ministry of Transport to request documentation, seeking evidence of her alleged role in the corruption case linked to Koldo García, former adviser to ex-transport minister José Luis Ábalos.
WhatsApp messages suggested Pardo de Vera discussed contract allocations with García, raising suspicions of favouritism, according to reports.
In a request for a reply by Brussels Signal, ADIF replied that there was nothing wrong with the tender in question and that it received a lot of promotion in local media.
“The tender for the sale of these lands followed the regulated procedures of the public company ADIF, with public announcement and open competition. The valuation of the assets subject to sale was carried out by SEGIPSA, an entity under the Ministry of Finance.”
It was stressed that the specifications for the sale of the assets outlined all the legal conditions and that, “Only one offer was submitted, and since it met the requirements of the procedure and the bid price, it was awarded the contract.”
The company further noted that “Juan Álvarez Rivera is not a shareholder in the company that acquired the land,” and clarified that his spouse, Isabel Pardo de Vera, had already taken a leave of absence from her technical role at ADIF—where she had worked on high-speed rail projects—when she was appointed Director of Mobility for the Pontevedra Provincial Council.
At the time of the land sale tender, ADIF said, she held no position within ADIF’s Asset Directorate or senior management.
They further claimed that media allegations suggesting Pardo de Vera’s involvement were based on a discredited article from 2017.
Pardo de Vera is also in the middle of judicial proceedings for the alleged irregular hiring of Jéssica Rodriguez, an ex-partner of José Luis Ábalos.
Reports by the Spanish police alleged Rodríguez was selected from a “catalogue” of prostitutes on García’s phone and accompanied Ábalos on official trips.
The major corruption scandal rocking the progressive Spanish Government, the Koldo Case, has taken a lewd turn, with prostitutes and a porn actress joining the fray. https://t.co/qek0RWipyW
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) June 19, 2025
Another suspect in the crosshairs of investigators was businessman Javier Pérez Dolset, allegedly linked to Leire Díez.
Díez was known as “the plumber” by the Socialists for her work “in the sewers” of the party.
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor has requested Pérez Dolset’s indictment, along with 13 other individuals and 17 legal entities, for allegedly misappropriating assets from ZED Worldwide, a company she was associated with, alleging bribery.
Pérez Dolset was reportedly connected to alleged subsidy fraud, punishable insolvency, money laundering, corporate crime and ongoing commercial document falsification.
It was suspected he and other defendants allegedly misappropriated approximately €23.5 million, further inflated by around €14 million through invoice falsification. They were also accused of defrauding public administrations of about €30 million.
The prosecutor’s document asserted that Pérez Dolset’s alleged illicit activities involved diverting ZED Worldwide’s assets for personal gain and manipulating the conditions for obtaining public subsidies. Other businessmen were also implicated in these alleged co-ordinated actions.
According to the investigators’ allegations, Pérez Dolset and his associates created a complex network of companies to misappropriate and conceal funds, exacerbating ZED’s insolvency.
They allegedly obtained public funds through falsified documentation and non-existent projects, with no intention of repaying loans.
ZED Worldwide and related entities received substantial public funds from various government programmes between 2011 and 2015, totalling millions in subsidies and loans.
The prosecutor highlighted a systematic approach to allegedly fraudulently securing these funds, involving fabricated project justifications and fake activities.
The total debt for public administrations was estimated at more than €28.4 million, with an additional €14.2 million in illicitly obtained subsidies.
The allegedly fraudulent operations included creating false justifications for projects and manipulating financial records to secure and misappropriate funds.
The anti-corruption document detailed the alleged roles of each involved party and the methods used allegedly to syphon off ZED’s assets, including using severance payments as a means of asset misappropriation.
In May, Pérez Dolset denied allegations of corruption.
Additionally, he has denied being a “fixer” for the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party) and has claimed to be a victim of a plot involving media and political sectors, as well as the Spanish “deep state”, connecting the research to the fight against Catalan separatism.
He admitted to having collaborated for six years with Díez, who allegedly looked for compromising information on the leading officer investigating all the alleged corruption cases with the Socialist Party. Díez explicitly denied waging a smear campaign.
Pérez Dolset said he believed that his arrest, the freezing of his companies and his subsequent indictment was a response more akin to an institutional vendetta than to provable criminal acts.
In 2017, he had been arrested in connection with fraud allegations concerning public subsidies.
