Aside from Cerdán, these are the other 'soldiers' affected by Pedro Sánchez.

BarcelonaWhen playing chess, the priority is to protect the king, and to do so, it is necessary to first preserve the queen, the knight, the bishop, the rook... and the first to be sacrificed are always the pawns. But if Spanish politics were a game between Pedro Sánchez and the entire right-wing opposition, including the judiciary, the Spanish president would have few pawns left, since he is at that point where he is beginning to see the most important pieces on the board threatened. This Monday, the Supreme Court sent to prison without bail the man who, a few weeks ago, was one of the men of its greatest confidence, Santos Cerdán, the former number three of the PSOE, for alleged corruption, and last week the judge in the Begoña case moved to charge one of the soldiers Sánchez's key figure in the Moncloa, the Minister of the Presidency and Justice, Félix Bolaños, for allegedly having irregularly hired an advisor for the Spanish president's wife. Left, the minister who took the photo with Oriol Junqueras. His wife was one of the first to mark the legislature And more have followed, with the threat that the trickle will continue and affect more names in the Spanish government. At least there are now ministers who, without any open legal cases, have been singled out by the commissioner in the Koldo case, Víctor de Aldama, who was released on parole at the end of last year after testifying before the judge that he had "evidence" of alleged corruption by the PSOE. In other words, he managed to get out of prison in the context of another hydrocarbon case, in exchange for explaining the alleged plots surrounding Pedro Sánchez.

Ortiz, on the brink of trial

Apart from his wife, Sánchez also has accused, from his closest circle, his brother, David Sánchez, for a position in the Badajoz Provincial Council (the president of the PSOE in Extremadura is also under investigation in this case); for allegedly having leaked an email in which the boyfriend Isabel Díaz Ayuso admitted to tax crimes; as well as her two former confidants in the PSOE for alleged collection of illegal commissions: first José Luis Ábalos, whom she already dismissed as minister in 2021 as head of Transport and secretary of organization, and then Cerdán. Koldo García, at the epicenter of the plot, had collaborated with Sánchez in the 2017 PSOE primaries.

Of these defendants, Sánchez's brother will surely be brought to trial, and García Ortiz is one step away from doing the same. The State Attorney General is under indictment, but he appealed the judge's decision: his indictment is pending confirmation, and an oral trial is underway. As for Begoña Gómez, Pedro Sánchez's wife, the case is still under investigation, but last week the Madrid Court endorsed the evidence against her advisor in reference to Gómez's "criminal plan."

Armengol and Torres

In Aldama's statement before the judge upon his release from prison, apart from slamming both Ábalos and Cerdán, he also targeted ministers against whom the courts have so far failed to act. He targeted the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, as well as the Speaker of Congress, Francina Armengol. Both were accused of buying and selling medical supplies during the pandemic when they were presidents of the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands, respectively. In fact, in recent days, several right-wing media outlets have claimed that the Civil Guard's UCO (Uco Unit of the Civil Guard) is already preparing a report on them.

Aside from these ministers, Aldama also took aim at the Vice President and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, since her chief of staff, Carlos Moreno, allegedly did business with the businessman. Also recently The World published that the first president of SEPI—the state's investment arm—worked at Servinabar, the company in the spotlight in the Cerdán case, during Montero's term. "Go to the pharmacy and buy burn cream, because you'll get burned," Aldama told the minister months ago.

Zapatero, in the spotlight

Aldama also recently assured on the program Horizon, from Cuatro, who had had contact with the former president of the Spanish government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. a key man for the articulation of the plurinational majority, especially in the dialogue with Puigdemont, has not commented on these accusations.

Finally, according to the Koldo audio recordings that appear in the UCO report that splashes Santos Cerdán, another name has also appeared, that of José Blanco, former Minister of Public Works whom Ábalos cited in his statement before Supreme Court Judge Leopoldo Puente, last week, as someone who suggested names for the Ministry of Transport, which is under scrutiny for irregularities in the awarding of public works contracts. A statement that Santos Cerdán also confirmed in his statement on Monday.