An audio recording links the PSOE's number three, Santos Cerdán, to alleged illegal commissions.
According to several media outlets, the number three of the PSOE would have commented with Ábalos and Koldo García that several public works contractors owe them money.
BarcelonaThe Civil Guard has obtained a recording of a conversation between former Spanish minister José Luis Ábalos, his advisor Koldo García and the deputy and current secretary of the PSOE organization, Santos Cerdán, in which the three commented that four construction companies awarded public road works owe them money, according to SER. The World and Eldiario.esThe conversation took place after Ábalos had left the Ministry of Transport, they claim. The police report submitted to the Supreme Court suggests that they had received €400,000 in exchange for fixing contracts. The PSOE itself has reacted quickly to this information, asserting in a statement that "Santos Cerdán has never participated, much less influenced, in public works contracts" and that "he has never received a commission for it." Thus, the Socialists are closing ranks with Cerdán, a pillar of the party, who is in fact piloting the talks with Junts in Switzerland.
This recording is said to have triggered the investigation into the secret part of the so-called Koldo case. Intercepted by the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard, the conversation was transcribed in the report submitted to the Supreme Court on June 5, which remained secret until this Wednesday. The details of alleged crimes in this conversation motivated the search this Tuesday at Ábalos's home in Valencia, in addition to four other companies.
The fact that the UCO searched the headquarters of the construction company Servinabar in Pamplona (Navarra), where Cerdán is from, and also in Vizcaya (Basque Country), in parallel with the search of the former Minister of Transport's home, had put him in the spotlight, the spotlight, in the spotlight, assured that Cerdán had also received illegal commissions. According to The WorldIn the UCO report received by the Koldo case instructor at the Supreme Court, Leopoldo Puente, on June 5, which led to this operation, there are indications of Cerdán's criminality.
The Spanish government defends Cerdán and assures that he is not linked to any irregularities. "All support for Santos," they stated this afternoon from the Moncloa Palace itself, from where they justified Sánchez's silence by saying that they "do not want to fall into the trap" of the PP, despite the PP having tried to bring the issue up this Wednesday in the control session in Congress. Likewise, the same sources consulted by ARA urged an investigation into Ábalos, about whom they do not vouch.
The PSOE complains
Beyond the Socialists' support for Cerdán, complaints also came from the party. The PSOE regrets that once again police actions are being exposed through the media, which, in their opinion, generates "defenselessness and media trials" for those affected. In this regard, they assert that when the full report is released, Cerdán will provide all the necessary explanations so that "once and for all his name and honor stop being mixed up daily with cases that have nothing to do with him."
