A judge at Spain’s National Court (Audiencia Nacional) has linked the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) to an alleged scheme set up to “systematically and continuously destabilise” court cases affecting the party and the Spanish Government.
In a court order seen by Europa Press, Judge Santiago Pedraz said the “turning point” came during the period of reflection that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez took in April 2024, after his wife, Begoña Gómez, was placed under investigation.
The order was made public on Wednesday, the same day officers from the Civil Guard’s Central Operative Unit (UCO) searched the PSOE’s headquarters on Calle Ferraz in Madrid.
Pedraz attributed a “superior role” to Santos Cerdán, the party’s organisation secretary at the time and once seen as Sánchez’s right-hand man. Cerdán is already under investigation in a separate corruption case and spent 142 days in prison last year before being released on bail.
According to the judge, Cerdán built a relationship with Leire Díez and tasked her with coordinating a set of actions he described as “criminally relevant”. Their aim, the order said, was to shield the interests of the PSOE and the government as several investigations closed in on party figures and on the Prime Minister’s family.
Pedraz pointed to a meeting on April 26, 2024 at the Ferraz headquarters, called by Cerdán. Those present included Díez, businessman Javier Pérez Dolset, then communications chief Ion Antolín and Juan Manuel Serrano.
“I am going to Madrid urgently. Santos has sent me. We have information that would help the president,” Díez told Vicente Fernández, a former head of the State Industrial Holdings Company (SEPI), according to the order.
The judge said the group, also said to include Pérez Dolset and former Andalusian minister Gaspar Zarrías, later offered money and favours to Civil Guard officers, investigators and prosecutors in exchange for information or “acts contrary” to their duties.
Among the targets, Pedraz cited repeated unfounded complaints against the magistrate investigating the case in which the Prime Minister’s brother, David Sánchez, is accused, as well as against the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the UCO.
Cerdán is said to have agreed to pay Díez €4,000 a month from party funds. The order said early payments of €16,000 were routed through a consultancy linked to Zarrías, who has insisted the sum was legitimate, while a further €27,225 was allegedly channelled through intermediaries tied to lawyer Ismael Oliver.
Pedraz wrote that Cerdán had placed “the party’s own structure” at the disposal of the alleged network, covering costs, lending staff and providing premises for meetings. At least 22 such meetings have been identified, most of them between Cerdán and Díez.
The PSOE has denied that the case affects the party or the government.
