The judge in the Leire case charges Sánchez's former chief of staff to the PSOE and authorizes the analysis of his mobile phone

MadridSantiago Pedraz tightens the circle around Pedro Sánchez's inner circle. The judge investigating the Leire Díez case at the Audiencia Nacional has decided to investigate Juan Manuel Serrano, who was Pedro Sánchez's chief of staff at the PSOE before he reached Moncloa and president of Correos from 2018 to 2023. He takes this step after being requested to do so by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office following the latest Civil Guard report, which concluded that he had a “relevant and preeminent participation” in the alleged scheme. The report from the Central Operative Unit (UCO) indicated that both would have “worked closely in achieving the objectives” of the supposed organization, both in the alleged irregular awarding of contracts within the SEPI environment and in attempts to destabilize judicial cases linked to the socialists.

The other major decision he has made has been to authorize the “cloning, dumping, and analysis” of his mobile phone to “determine his scope of responsibility” in the decision-making of the supposed scheme and to discern whether he “limited himself to consenting to the illicit operation” or went as far as to “promote and direct it”. He, for example, participated in the meeting that marked the start of the actions now under scrutiny, on April 26, 2024, following Pedro Sánchez's "Letter to the citizens" regarding the investigation into his wife. From that day on, he maintained "constant communication" with Leire Díez: "She informed him of the progress of her dealings, specifically concerning Villarejo's material," the ruling states. In fact, the judge even provides figures: between 2020 and 2024, more than 9,000 WhatsApp messages were exchanged, and from April 2024 to November 2025, 1,500 messages were sent via Signal.

In relation to Juanma Serrano's role as president of Correos, Santiago Pedraz points out that he facilitated the “irregular hiring” of Leire Díez as director general of Philately and Institutional Relations at Correos. From this position, and with the alleged “acquiescence” of the public company's president, she would have allegedly promoted two irregular hiring processes to benefit herself or Vicente Fernández, former president of SEPI, who is also under investigation.

Two PSOE workers exonerated

The Civil Guard also wanted to examine the mobile phones of Covadonga San Pedro and Celia Rodríguez, two Ferraz employees. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office opposed this and, finally, the judge has lifted their charges because he believes they limited themselves to “executing” the orders they received from Santos Cerdán, who was the Organization Secretary of the PSOE, to manage the trips and meetings of the investigated individuals. However, it has not been proven that they “know that they were carrying out the illicit plan”. He has summoned them as witnesses next Tuesday, July 28, and on that day he will ask them to provide the communications they held between April 2024 and June 2025 with Santos Cerdán, Leire Díez, Juan Manuel Serrano, and Ana María Fuentes.

The PSOE manager's mobile phone

Finally, the judge also does not authorize the inspection of the mobile phone of Ana María Fuentes, the PSOE manager. She is being investigated for a crime of falsification of commercial documents for having issued the two order notes that served to justify Ferraz's payments to lawyers Ismael Oliver and Jacobo Teijelo – also under investigation – and which allegedly sought to "remunerate" Leire Díez's tasks. Santiago Pedraz has closed the door to such an "invasive" measure, given that the role attributed to her is limited to a "specific and auxiliary intervention" which places her in the figure of "co-author or accomplice" rather than "main responsible party" for the crimes.