Officers of the Central Operational Unit of the Spanish Civil Guard have searched the the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) HQ in Madrid to retrieve the emails of the former secretary of the party Santos Cerdán following corruption allegations.
By order of the Supreme Court, the officers raided the premises on June 20.
While inside the offices, a mob of angry protestors gathered in the street.
A man with a loudspeaker was heard shouting: “Socialists, whoremongers and coup plotters!” until police officers moved him on.
Passing drivers hurled abuse, crying “Thieves!” and cruder insults. Vans from the members of the Conservative organisation Hazte Oír passed by with banners, calling PSOE leader and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez “corrupt” and describing him as the “numero uno” of the “mafia”.
Cerdán lost his parliamentary immunity after resigning his seat as a deputy on June 16. He was suspected of rigging public works awards in exchange for commissions.
He was charged by the Supreme Court, which ordered the police to look into his bank accounts and those of five other businessmen, who were also being investigated, together with their companies.
The court has authorised investigators to ask some 30 financial institutions in Spain and abroad for information on another 400 current accounts.
Among them were five for which Cerdán appeared as the owner with his wife or other relatives, daily El Pais reported on June 20.
The accounts of the PSOE and affiliate foundations were explicitly excluded from the investigation.
Spanish police searched several institutional locations connected to the PSOE politicians allegedly involved in corruption to retrieve documents and communications that may be relevant to the investigation.
Other locations included the Ministry of Transport, where police sought data on former minister José Luis Ábalos — also suspected of serious corruption involving rigged public works — as well as the Railway Infrastructure Administrator (Adif) and the General Directorate of Roads.
A former president of ADIF and a former general director of Roads were suspects in alleged irregular awards to construction companies.
The magistrate leading the PSOE case urged Ábalos’s successor and current Transport Minister Oscar Puente to facilitate the work of the investigators. The judge said he wanted all information relating to Ábalos and Cerdán, both former organisational secretaries of the PSOE.
They held their positions during overlapping periods and both left hastily after the bribery scandal broke.
In early June, the magistrate ordered 11 searches, including at Ábalos’ home in Valencia. On that occasion, the agents seized thousands of paper documents and 59 electronic devices, including 38 from the former minister.
It also became public that Ábalos was allegedly connected to a large number of prostitutes, causing further embarrassment for his party.
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
Representatives of the PSOE told the media they “will collaborate”.
The party had to do some extra damage control, after leaked audio showed Leire Díez, known as “the plumber” by the Socialists for her work “in the sewers” of the party, was accused of trying to discredit the police investigation.
Díez allegedly asked a businessman for compromising information on the leading officer investigating all the corruption cases with the Socialist Party.
A court in Badajoz has issued an order to initiate preliminary proceedings to investigate the actions of Díez.
She explicitly denied waging a smear campaign
Transport Minister Puente clarified on X that investigators had not targeted the ministry he presided over, the headquarters of ADIF, Ferraz, or the general directorate of roads but had simply asked for Cerdán’s corporate emails.
The new proceedings meant that Cerdán’s co-operation would no longer be voluntary but “mandatory and as an investigated person”.
Cerdán approached the Spanish Congress on June 20 to formalise his resignation.
He claimed compensation for having been a deputy for more than six years. If granted, that would earn him around €19,000.
In a statement announcing his resignation, Cerdán maintained his innocence, saying he was stepping down to “focus exclusively on defending myself and on providing relevant explanations that will show … that I have never committed an illegal act nor been complicit in one.” He added that he would voluntarily appear before the supreme court, as requested, on June 25.
Ábalos, who was dismissed from Sánchez’s cabinet in 2021, was suspended by the PSOE in February last year after refusing to resign when his aide, García, was accused of accepting bribes to secure mask contracts during the Covid pandemic. Both men have denied any wrongdoing.
Spain’s ruling Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party has been rocked by a serious internal corruption scandal. https://t.co/Spllb5F0dA
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) June 13, 2025
