The Civil Guard suspects that Santos Cerdán had an "alternative funding source"

MadridOne year later, the long-awaited patrimonial report from the Central Operative Unit (UCO) on Santos Cerdán has arrived. However, the three main conclusions from the Guardia Civil do not carry the weight that might be expected at first glance. Firstly, investigators have found €18,260 in cash income with an “apparently unknown origin” between 2014 and 2017, when he was a deputy in the Parliament of Navarre and Mariano Rajoy was still in Moncloa. Secondly, they have detected a “reduction in expenses” via card and cash withdrawals starting in 2019, during a period that “temporarily coincides” with José Luis Ábalos's tenure as minister and the awarding of suspicious contracts to Acciona. Thirdly, the settlements of advance payments from the PSOE and Congress were “higher” than the expenses they have observed as “susceptible” to being reclaimed. In total, they have analyzed €1.1 million in income and expenses from 2014 to 2025.

The document, to which ARA has had access, expands the analysis of Servinabar, the company owned by Antxon Alonso, a Navarre friend of the former number 3 of the PSOE. It again highlights the “preponderance” of Acciona as the “main source of income” for the company during the investigated period and, compared to the previous report, increases its weight from 75.3% to 87%. Likewise, it indicates that between 2015 and 2024, Santos Cerdán and members of his family received benefits – through salaries or direct and indirect payments – of up to €323,000 that originated from Servinabar.

What happened during Ábalos's “ministerial stage”?

Card and cash payments

Throughout the 163 pages, the UCO alludes to the "ministerial stage" of José Luis Ábalos, who was part of the Council of Ministers from 2018 to 2021. The Civil Guard believes there are "two trends" that are "indicative" of the "possible existence of an alternative financing source" for Santos Cerdán. Firstly, it alludes to card payments: "It is noteworthy that they were significantly reduced in 2019, 2020, and 2021," the report emphasizes. In contrast, from 2022 to 2025, "an increase is observed again."

Secondly, it discusses cash. From 2014 to 2018, Cerdán made cash withdrawals of more than 10,000 euros annually. However, from 2019 onwards, "the need to have cash from his bank accounts seems to have disappeared." Withdrawals suffered a "drastic reduction" in 2019 and were "nil" in 2020, 2022, and 2023. In 2021, there was a "one-off withdrawal" to pay for some works: "The recurring need for cash observed until 2018 would have ceased in 2019 or would have been met through a source of funds not originating from bank accounts," the UCO summarizes.

In twelve years, 78% of cash withdrawals occurred in the five years before Pedro Sánchez's arrival at Moncloa. And 16% were for the works in 2021. What are the two main movements that the UCO finds strange? On the one hand, 4,700 euros contributed to the PSOE when he was a Navarre deputy, of which only 650 euros have a confirmed origin; and, on the other hand, an income of 5,470 euros received from the PSOE in 2020, but which is not recorded in the party's documentation.

Higher expense settlements and Servinabar

On this line, the report brings another point: it has observed that especially in 2020, 2021, and 2022, the expense settlements of the PSOE and Congress – the money they returned to him for having advanced it for activities linked to his position – are "higher" than the expenses that the Civil Guard states he incurred, after analyzing his payments with concepts such as "restoration," "transport," or "accommodation."

They even reached, for example, five times more in 2020 or twice as much in 2021. Faced with this scenario, the UCO believes there are two possibilities: Santos Cerdán claimed expenses that "were not paid by him" or that "were not effectively incurred," or he paid them with an "undeclared source of funds."

Further on, it refers again to this period. It shows that between 2018 and 2021, the percentage of income for Servinabar from Acciona exceeded 90%, reaching 99.8% in 2020. Furthermore, it concludes that the profits from the Navarrese company for Cerdán and his family reached "maximums" from 2019 to 2023.

The 323,000 euros of his/her/their family

The UCO also provides a table detailing Servinabar's money from which Santos Cerdán's family benefited. There is, for example, the rent of two of his houses in Madrid: 7,200 euros from 2017 to 2018 and 52,500 euros from 2018 to 2019. Also, 3,560 euros used from the company's bank card and 10,970 euros for the use of a Kia Sportage. In addition, it includes 6,000 euros for the purchase of 1,300 shares: Cerdán has denied from day one that he acquired 45% of the company, and the UCO, despite including it in the balance sheet, now says it has not located the payment. It also states that Servinabar negotiated the purchase of a property in Madrid for 985,000 euros for him, but the operation was not closed due to “discrepancies in delivery times”.

From his family circle, Antxon Alonso's company paid 57,700 to Santos Cerdán's brother-in-law and 22,300 euros to his sister. Likewise, payments from other companies are recorded: 139,700 euros paid by Erkolan to his sister and 9,500 euros from Noran and 18,730 euros from Loregen intended for his wife, Francisca Muñoz. Finally, regarding Servinabar's accounts, it quantifies the company's total income between 2015 and 2025 at 8.6 million and emphasizes that it "drastically decreased" in 2025, when Cerdán and Alonso were indicted.