Spain’s ruling Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) has paid a Civil Guard officer accused of leaking secret information to a network allegedly set up to disrupt corruption investigations into the party, a Spanish judge has said.
The claim appears in a court order by Santiago Pedraz, an investigating judge at Spain’s National Court (Audiencia Nacional).
In it, Pedraz wrote that Captain Juan Sánchez Yepes, a former member of the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Guardia Civil, “also invoices his services to the PSOE”.
The UCO is the elite anti-corruption unit that has been investigating the PSOE and figures close to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, including the Koldo affair over allegedly rigged public contracts.
According to the order, Sánchez Yepes handed over classified details about the unit and about Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Balas, who leads the UCO department probing the party. Messages cited by the judge suggest the officer knew he was breaking the law.
The captain is being investigated for revealing secrets, bribery and crimes against State institutions. He had already been suspended over a separate hydrocarbons fraud inquiry.
The wider case centres on Leire Díez, a former Socialist activist described as the party’s “fixer”, who is accused of running the operation. Pedraz believes it was designed to destabilise court proceedings affecting the party and the Spanish Government.
The judge calculates that the party paid roughly €188,000 through false invoices, allegedly with help from its manager, Ana María Fuentes, who has also been placed under investigation.
Investigators trace the scheme to April 2024, after the wife of Sánchez, Begoña Gómez, was placed under investigation in a separate case. Díez allegedly told associates the plan was a priority for Santos Cerdán, the PSOE’s former organisation secretary, who has since been remanded in custody.
Cerdán has denied telling the Prime Minister about his contacts with Díez. Sánchez has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing.
The PSOE said it was the target of a “lynching” campaign by the Right and insisted it had destroyed no evidence.
