Cerdán links his "persecution" to the pact with Junts: "Everything changed after the photo with Puigdemont"

BarcelonaExpectations are high this morning in the Senate. This comes amid a crisis in the Spanish government due to... Cases of alleged corruption are piling up in the courtsThe former number three of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, appears in the upper house a month after leaving prisonHe was summoned at 10:00 a.m. to the Koldo case commission, where he had already appeared once before on April 30 of last year, and from the outset made it clear that he would exercise his right to remain silent regarding the specific facts for which he is being investigated by the Supreme Court. In his initial statement, however, he insisted on his innocence: "I will defend myself, make no mistake, I am innocent, I am not corrupt, and sooner or later you will be able to verify this," he said. Cerdán, who had been speaking with his lawyer Jacobo Teijelo for a while before the session began, read a statement in which he attributed his indictment to a persecution "worthy of the Inquisition," without "guarantees" and in which "no crime is being investigated." And in a brief subsequent response to the senator from the Junts party, Eduard Pujol, he linked the investigation against him to his role as the architect of the PSOE's negotiations with Junts for the investiture, which culminated in the amnesty and the Brussels agreement. "There is a before and after the photo with [former president Carles] Puigdemont [...] Everything changed after that photo," he said.

The former Socialist Party organizing secretary stated that several "political forces" told him to be "careful" because of the consequences of that negotiation. "It all stems from there," he said at another point in the session. "I had to be wiretapped again in Madrid," he explained. In fact, he asserted that, while politically he would again lead agreements with Catalan and Basque separatists, personally he would not repeat it. "The cost to me and those around me has been very high for having done so."

Apart from the "political context" of his indictment, and within the framework of his initial statement, Cerdán reiterated that the audios that incriminate him have been manipulated -key thesis in their defense strategyHe added that a narrative has been constructed about him that does not correspond to reality. He asserted, however, that the case is orchestrated by the state's dirty tricks department. "It is a judicial coup against the rule of law," he said, quoting a recent article by retired Supreme Court Justice José Antonio Martín Pallín.

The former Socialist leader cited as an example the fact that both the Civil Guard and the judge have linked him to the company Servinabar, owned by Antxon Alonso and key to the scheme of alleged kickbacks in exchange for public works contracts. The investigation claims that Cerdán came to own almost half of the company. "That's absolutely false," said Cerdán, who criticized the investigators' "complete lack of rigor" and described the evidence against him as "police speculation" based on "alleged audio recordings that are being proven false."

He "categorically" denies the illegal financing of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party).

In brief responses to questions from the PP senator, Vox senator Ángel Pelayo Gordillo, and UPN senator María Mar Caballero—with whom there were some tense moments—Cerdán made it clear that he "has never participated in any contract award, neither from the Navarre government nor the Spanish government" and that he has never "dipped" his hand in the till. He "categorically" denied that the PSOE was illegally financed while he was the party's organizing secretary. When asked about the fact that his former party had abandoned him, he responded with "better alone than in bad company." At another point, he added that he "doesn't need" anyone's support and that he hasn't asked for it either. "Everyone has turned their back on me, but to defend my innocence, I don't need anyone to stand by me."

Cerdán, who has also discredited the WhatsApp messages intercepted in the case concerning his wife's "excessive" spending—for which he has asked for "respect"—has long denounced manipulation regarding his involvement in the scheme that also implicates former minister José Luis Ábalos. "Many lies are being told and there is a lot of manipulation," he said. he said upon his release from prisonOn November 19th.

In his first appearance before the Senate committee, the former Socialist Party organizing secretary denied any responsibility in the alleged corruption scheme and denied that Koldo was his "protégé" and He distanced himself from his promotion in the Spanish government. Statements for which the far-right association Hazte Oír filed a complaint against him for being a false witnessMore than a year later, in June of that year, Cerdán became a subject of investigation In the context of the Koldo case, he resigned as a member of parliament and leader of the PSOE and was placed in pretrial detention. He was imprisoned in Soto del Real until November, when he was released on bail. It was then that Ábalos and Koldo García were imprisoned.