The arrests on suspicion of corruption that are plaguing Sánchez

MadridFive arrests in the past 24 hours have increased the pressure on Pedro Sánchez, as they have revealed the existence of two secret investigations involving individuals and companies with connections to the Spanish government. The most recent arrests, carried out this Thursday by the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) of the National Police, were of Julio Martínez, owner of the airline Plus Ultra, and the company's CEO, Roberto Roselli. According to sources close to the investigation cited by EFE, the action is part of an investigation into alleged money laundering led by Madrid's Court of Instruction Number 15. Why is this targeting the Spanish Prime Minister? Plus Ultra was bailed out by the State with 53 million euros in 2021 in a controversial operation.

These arrests have been added to those of Leire Díez, a former member of the PSOE, and the former president of the State Society of Industrial Holdings (SEPI) – the state's investment arm – Vicente Fernández Guerrero, which were not the only ones made by the Civil Guard this Wednesday in this case. within the framework of the secret case in the National CourtThe following day, a third arrest was announced. This time, it was businessman Antxon Alonso, owner of Servinabar, a company under investigation in the Supreme Court for its involvement in the Santos Cerdán corruption case, and whom investigators from the Central Operational Unit (UCO) identify as a business partner of the former Socialist Party's number three.

The National Court's Investigating Court Number 6 is investigating the three men for malfeasance, embezzlement, influence peddling, and organized crime. Alonso is also under investigation in the Supreme Court case against Cerdán for alleged illegal commissions in exchange for public works contracts. The businessman, as well as Díez and Fernández, will appear before the judge at 10:00 AM. The same sources report that 19 searches have also been carried out in various provinces of Spain. This Thursday, searches were conducted in Madrid, Seville, and Zaragoza at companies linked to Servinabar, according to Europa Press.

Apart from this connection between Alonso and Cerdán, there is another thread linking the Díez case to the case being investigated in the Supreme Court. In ameeting he held with prosecutor Ignacio StampaIn May, she introduced herself as Cerdán's "right-hand woman," who was then the PSOE's organizing secretary: "But I'm a right-hand woman who will never appear anywhere," she acknowledged. Initially, the allegedplumberThe PSOE was implicated as a result of a audio in which she could be heard asking for compromising information From the head of the UCO's economic crimes department, Antonio Balas, who is leading the investigation into the Cerdán network from the UCO and was the one who went to Pamplona to search Servinabar.

However, the PSOE denies that Díez played that role, and from the very beginning, when the scandal broke in June of this year with the publication of these audios, it has distanced itself from the former member. A version, that of the Socialists, which the PP does not give credence to. The number two of the Popular Party, Miguel Tellado, has called him "plumber The head of the PSOE headquarters in Ferraz, in a press conference, argued that this new investigation against people linked to the party demonstrates that the Spanish government is "rotten" and on the verge of "blowing up." The PP has used this case in the National Court to point the finger at María Jesús Montero, whom Tellado warned is "starting to look like Santos Cerdán." The First Vice President and Minister of Finance is seen as "the other link" to corruption, and her situation is considered "untenable." The PP has also demanded that Pedro Sánchez personally assume political responsibility for the "thousand shadows of corruption that haunt him."