Santos Cerdán ordered his PSOE team to authorize all trips requested by Leire Díez

MadridA new report from the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard, to which ARA has had access, supports the alleged leadership role that Santos Cerdán would have exercised in the Leire Díez case. The National Court is investigating an alleged "criminal structure" to "obstruct" judicial proceedings and "protect the interests" of Pedro Sánchez. The 107-page document reinforces the existing evidence and, among other things, includes a report on the "management of travel expenses" related to Santos Cerdán and other members of his team in 2024 and 2025, which was prepared by the PSOE and handed over to the UCO three weeks ago. "He gave verbal instructions to his support staff to authorize any trip requested by Leire Díez in such a way that she personally communicated with the Secretariat staff to request trips," the report by Santiago Llorente, coordinator of the party's management, states.

The UCO also provides emails exchanged with the travel agency that works for the socialists, which prove the requests made by a PSOE employee to buy flights for Leire Díez. "It is a direct 'order' from the Organization Secretary. I don't know anything else... Please issue it when you have authorization," said Covadonga San Pedro Pascual, who worked at Ferraz. The PSOE also provided details of the trips it paid for the investigated individuals: seven flights for Leire Díez are recorded, as well as a round-trip train journey she took with the businessman Javier Pérez Dolset.

The report provides more details. According to the UCO, throughout the year 2025, Jacobo Teijelo – one of Santos Cerdán's current lawyers, who is also under investigation and will have to testify on June 25–, would have received 125,000 euros from the PSOE in three invoices. The contract was formalized by Ana María Fuentes, the party's manager, who is being investigated for document forgery, but the Civil Guard emphasizes that the "initiative" to hire the lawyer "would have originated" from the then number 3 of the party: "The supervision and control of the services effectively provided were directly assumed by whoever made the request," the PSOE acknowledged. The same scheme was reproduced with the invoice of 27,225 euros channeled by Ismael Oliver and the four invoices of 7,500 euros with Zaño, Gaspar Zarrías' company. However, Jacobo Teijelo provided two more invoices – for 26,500 euros each – which are not included in the PSOE's accounting. The party alleges that they have no record of them because the payments were never made.

Faced with the latest developments, the PSOE hides behind Santos Cerdán. The party's Organization Secretary, Rebeca Torró, recalls that the purchase of trips was part of the management scope of the then number 3 of the formation: "It did not require anyone's authorization," she remarked at a press conference. And she insisted that justice will determine if illicit behavior was hidden behind the payments. In any case, she highlighted that there are no direct contracts between the PSOE and Leire Díez, but rather formal legal advice or consultancy relationships. The PSOE distances itself from what was done behind the contracts, defends that the manager acted correctly, and attributes all responsibility to Santos Cerdán. "We have nothing to hide," Rebeca Torró reiterated –reports Núria Orriols Guiu.

Leire Díez's "accountability" to Santos Cerdán

, exchanged messages with Leire Díez when he already knew she was maneuvering against the UCO.

It also records a note from the former socialist leader's diary in which he complains about the role of the State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz. "Did the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor not inform the FGE or disobey him?", he wondered. And he added another reflection: "If the FGE does not act, the rest act without fear and in the service of who they believe will be the next and protects them, which is [Alejandro] Luzón", the current head of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. Likewise, the Civil Guard's report corroborates that the director of the Civil Guard, Mercedes González, exchanged messages with Leire Díez when she already knew that she was maneuvering against the UCO.

The PSOE's response

Precisely this morning, the federal executive commission of the PSOE met to review the measures it took a year ago following the Cerdán case. Rebeca Torró wanted to appear in person to explain it and boast that they have brought the PSOE to the "best management standards" in the State. Among other things, she highlighted that decisions are now made in a "collegial" manner – anything has to be signed by two people from the management team – and that the federal committee on June 27 will approve the protocol for fraud prevention.

In fact, socialist sources emphasize that they have collaborated at all times with the Civil Guard and give an example of an episode when the UCO entered the headquarters on Ferraz street. They explain that, a year ago, the investigators did not want to take Cerdán's computers and diaries: "We may need them later," the police warned. At that time, the PSOE staff took an inventory of everything that was there, recorded it in an act, and sealed it in boxes. They stored it in a basement and, a few weeks ago, when the Civil Guard requested information again, they handed it all over.

However, the socialists' explanations have not satisfied the PP, which continues to ask Pedro Sánchez to call early elections: "Let him accept reality, they have discovered him" –reports Andrea Zamorano. For their part, Esquerra Republicana urges the Spanish president to give explanations to "dispel doubts" and criticizes him for not appearing in Congress until next week. And Junts again calls for early elections and believes that the judicial cases surrounding the PSOE are a "moral judgment of a left that preaches certain values but applies others".