The Civil Guard arrests former socialist activist Leire Díez on the orders of the National Court

MadridThe Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard arrested former PSOE member Leire Díez and former president of SEPI, the state investment arm, Vicente Fernández Guerrero, on Wednesday, according to sources within the Civil Guard who spoke to ARA. The arrests were made on the orders of the National Court as part of an open case related to the awarding of public contracts and are under seal. The investigation was initiated by Investigating Court Number 6, headed by Judge Antonio Piña, and is overseen by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, according to sources close to the investigation who spoke to EFE. This is a different judge than the one investigating the Koldo case. The first reaction from the PSOE came from the halls of Congress. Party spokesperson Montse Mínguez simply reiterated that Leire Díez "is not a member" of the party and expressed "absolute" respect for the investigation being conducted by the Civil Guard and the National Court. "It's time for justice," she concluded. In fact, after her name became known and her audio recordings of maneuvering against the Civil Guard were leaked, Ferraz distanced itself from her actions and suspended her party membership. Furthermore, from the outset, Díez—who was also a Socialist councilwoman in Cantabria—denied acting on behalf of the PSOE and claimed that I was working on a journalistic investigation Regarding irregular police practices.

Meanwhile, the People's Party (PP) is lashing out. The first to speak out was the PP's spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz: "At the rate of scandals we're seeing, I think that by 2027, the Socialist Party (PSOE) will be completely wiped out. The prisons will probably be too small." Muñoz sees a government that "is slowly fading away." Shortly after, the party leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, added his voice, compiling some of the cases that have implicated the Spanish government and the PSOE, such as the confirmation this Wednesday of the indictment of former Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos. "This can't go on, Pedro Sánchez," he wrote in a tweet.

Before the recently revealed case, Leire Díez was under investigation by a Madrid court for bribery and influence peddling for alleged maneuvers against the Public Prosecutor's Office and high-ranking officers of the Civil Guard. The case escalated in the summer when it became public that the former PSOE member, who in recent years has held positions in public companies such as Enusa and Correos, was collaborating with "victims" of irregular police practices, along with businessman Javier Pérez Dolset and journalist Patrícia López, among others. The legal proceedings originated from a complaint filed by Hazte Oír, in which the far-right organization argued that Leire Díez had amodus operandiwhich consisted of "meeting with defendants in various legal proceedings" to "gain access to supposedly unpublished and confidential files that could harm judges, prosecutors, and other professionals." The Prosecutor's Office believes he led an alleged "criminal scheme" through "continuous and coordinated activity" with others to "personally and professionally discredit" the leadership of the UCO (Central Operative Unit) and the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office in order to "derail and nullify" investigations related to the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party).

The connection with the Cerdán case

Likewise, there is also a thread connecting the Leire Díez case with the Koldo-Ábalos-Cerdán case. In a meeting he held with prosecutor Ignacio Stampa In May, she presented herself as the "right-hand woman" of Santos Cerdán, who was then the PSOE's organizing secretary: "But I'm a right-hand woman who will never appear anywhere," she acknowledged.

Initially, the alleged plumber The PSOE was implicated following an audio recording in which she was heard requesting compromising information from the head of the UCO's economic crimes department: "I need [Antonio] Balas, it's that clear," Díez told a businessman charged in a case concerning fraud in the hydrocarbon sector. Balas is leading the investigation against the Koldo-Ábalos-Cerdán network from the UCO and was the one who went to Pamplona to search the Servinabar company, linked to the Cerdán case. Fernández Guerrero, president of SEPI since 2018, when Pedro Sánchez came to power, and dismissed in 2019, also ended up working for Servinabar.