Questions and answers about the Cerdán case: how did we get here?

MadridSuspicions about the number 3 of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, have been appearing in some media outlets for weeks, until this Wednesday night it was revealed that one report from the UCO of the Civil Guard The information provided to the Supreme Court judge in the Ábalos case on June 5th directly links him to illegal commissions. Below are some questions and answers about this new case, which adds pressure to Spanish President Pedro Sánchez, given that Santos Cerdán was in his closest circle of confidants.

What is Santos Cerdán's relationship with Ábalos and Koldo?

Santos Cerdán's name was on the table almost from the start of the Koldo case. When clues surfaced about the former advisor to former minister José Luis Ábalos, the PSOE quickly suspended him from membership, but the right quickly warned that it was Santos Cerdán who introduced Koldo García to the PSOE. They had met in the party in Navarra because they already worked in security. When he joined the Ferraz executive in 2017 and Pedro Sánchez arrived at the Moncloa in 2018, Cerdán introduced Koldo to Ábalos, who hired him at the Ministry of Public Works.

Why is Cerdán key to Pedro Sánchez?

Cerdán was Sánchez's right-hand man in the PSOE. He was first secretary of territorial coordination and, until now, the secretary of organization, having dismissed José Luis Ábalos in 2021. Cerdán reaffirmed his position at the party's 41st congress last November. He was also the person designated to negotiate with Junts and meet with Carles Puigdemont abroad.

Where did the suspicions about Cerdán come from?

The first to raise suspicions about Santos Cerdán was the broker in the Koldo case, businessman Víctor de Aldama. In his confession to the National Court on November 21st of last year, which allowed him to be released from prison for another case—fraud in the hydrocarbon sector—Aldama stated that Cerdán had received €15,000 in cash at a bar across from the PSOE headquarters on Calle Ferraz. According to him, he handed the money over to Koldo in an envelope, and Koldo delivered it to number 3 of the Socialist Party. According to him, the money was related to a payment linked to bidding for "quota Basque", but did not go into details.

What are the indications against Cerdán?

March 3rd The Confidential The UCO (Spanish Civil Guard) had already published that the UCO (Spanish Civil Guard) had located conversations within Koldo García's organization that implicated Cerdán in allegedly irregular public procurement contracts. Since then, it has been leaked on several occasions that the Civil Guard had a report linking the PSOE's number three to the Ábalos case, although without fully specifying what alleged illegality he may have committed. The latest development is the order from the investigating judge, Leopoldo Puente, this Thursday, in which he summons him to testify voluntarily on June 25: he attributes to him acting "in collusion with them [Ábalos and Koldo] in the improper awarding and exchange of public works contracts." The UCO report, to which ARA has had access, places companies such as Acciona, Obras Públicas y Regadíos, and Levantina, Ingeniería y Construcción among the companies involved in the plot.

The searches of Ábalos' companies and apartment

In this resolution, Puente explains that on June 5, he opened a separate, secret investigation linked to the Ábalos case regarding public works contracts awarded, following the aforementioned UCO report. Therefore, he ordered ten searches on Tuesday, including one at Ábalos's apartment in Valencia and others at the homes, registered offices, and business headquarters of companies in Granada, Navarra, Valencia, Vizcaya, and Toledo. Among them was the home of Joseba Antxon, very close to Koldo y Cerdán, the company's administrator. Servinabar 2000 SL, located in Pamplona, was also searched. The UCO (Central University of Catalonia) has also detected irregularities linked to Antxon and Cerdán from the period prior to Ábalos and Koldo's arrival at the ministry.

What have Cerdán and the PSOE been saying until now?

Until now, Cerdán and the PSOE had maintained, over and over again, that he had not committed any irregularities. This Thursday morning, the Socialist organization secretary said that He didn't know what explanations he should give if he didn't know what the UCO attributed to him.When he found out, he had said, he would call a press conference at Ferraz. This didn't happen, and he resigned. The PSOE and the Moncloa government had been very certain in recent weeks that there had been no criminal activity and only admitted that there might have been some conversation in which Cerdán was interested in some contract award, but in the context of obtaining information at the request of mayors, given that Cerdán was the PSOE's secretary of territorial coordination between 2017 and 2018. Sánchez expressed his "deep disappointment" with him.

What are the PP and Sánchez's partners saying?

The PP was already calling Cerdán corrupt before receiving the UCO's evidence and now believes that only "the number 1 of the gang" remains to be brought down, referring to Pedro Sánchez. Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party published an AI video this morning showing Sánchez, Cerdán, Ábalos, and Koldo in the Peugeot with which the Spanish president won the PSOE primaries in 2017. The PP demands that Sánchez immediately call early elections, and the party members sit down. For example, ERC requested an external audit of the Ministry of Transport, but made it clear that it will not facilitate a PP and Vox government to embody "systemic corruption." Together, it requested a meeting to analyze the "viability" of the legislature.