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

BarcelonaUnder investigation for alleged corruption in the Supreme Court, Santos Cerdán presented his defense strategy in the Senate on Wednesday. This comes amid a crisis within the Spanish government. cases piling up in the courtsand a month later to be released on bail from prisonThe former number three of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) appeared before the Koldo case committee in the Senate to once again assert his innocence. Although he invoked his right to remain silent regarding the specific charges against him, he claimed to be the victim of a "persecution worthy of the Inquisition" and linked the investigation to his role in the amnesty law agreement. "I will defend myself; let it be clear, I am innocent, I am not corrupt, and sooner or later you will be able to verify this," he said in an initial statement read from a laptop. The former socialist leader, who spoke with his lawyer, Jacobo Teijelo, before entering the courtroom, denounced the "unfair trial" he has been subjected to, claiming that "no specific crime is being investigated." And in a subsequent response to the senator from the Junts per Catalunya party, Eduard Pujol, he stated that the case against him "would not have exploded" as it did if he hadn't led the negotiations with Junts for Pedro Sánchez's investiture, which culminated in the Brussels agreement. "There is a before and after the photo with Puigdemont [...] Everything changed after that photo," he said.

The former Socialist Party organizing secretary stated that several "political forces" told him to be "careful" about the consequences of that negotiation. "Everything stems from there," he said again, referring to the amnesty pact at another point in the session, in response to the Vox representative, Ángel Pelayo Gordillo. "I had to be wiretapped again in Madrid," he explained. In fact, he asserted that, while politically he would lead the negotiations with Catalan and Basque separatists again for the investiture, personally he would not repeat the experience. "The cost to me and those around me was very high," he argued.

Regardless of the "political context" of his indictment, Cerdán reiterated that the audios that incriminate him They are manipulated –key thesis in their defense strategy– and he recalled that "the Civil Guard experts cannot fully guarantee the authenticity of the audio recordings." Thus, he insisted on more than one occasion that "a recording from 2019 cannot be made with a software of 2021." The former Socialist deputy, however, has said that "a narrative has been constructed" about him that does not correspond to reality. He has also suggested that the case is orchestrated by the state's dirty tricks department. "It is a judicial coup against the rule of law," he said, citing a recent article by the emeritus magistrate del Palo. Cerdán has described the evidence as "police speculation" and cited as an example the fact that both the Civil Guard and the Supreme Court judge... They identify him as a partner in the company ServinabarThe company, owned by Antxon Alonso and key to the scheme of alleged kickbacks in exchange for public works contracts, has been accused of being "absolutely false." The investigation claims that Cerdán came to own almost half of the company, but his defense responds that the contract through which he allegedly purchased 45% of the company was not properly documented. It had "no legal effect" because it was never made public.

He "categorically" denies the illegal financing of the PSOE

In his brief responses to questions from Vox senator Gerardo Camps of the PP and UPN senator María del Mar Caballero, with whom there were several tense moments, Cerdán insisted 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 also "categorically" denied that the PSOE was illegally financed while he was the party's organizational secretary. In fact, he said he hopes that if Pedro Sánchez "ever falls," it will be "for democracy." When questioned about his former party abandoning him, he responded with "better alone than in bad company." And in his exchange with Socialist senator Alfonso Gil, he refrained from reproaching the PSOE for having "forgotten" the presumption of innocence in his case. At another point, he added that he doesn't need anyone's support and hasn't asked for it either. "Everyone has turned their back on me, but to defend my innocence I don't need anyone by my side."

Cerdán, who has also described the messages as being taken out of context, WhatsApp messages intercepted in the case Regarding his wife's "excessive" spending, he has long denounced manipulation regarding his involvement in a case that also implicates former minister José Luis Ábalos and his former advisor Koldo García, currently in pretrial detention. In his first appearance before the Senate committee last April, he already denied any responsibility in the alleged corruption scheme, denied that Koldo was his "protégé," and He distanced himself from his promotionStatements that, according to the evidence against him in the Supreme Court, led several senators to accuse him of lying on Wednesday. The far-right association Hazte Oír, in fact, has already filed a lawsuit against him for being a false witness.