The judge requests information from twelve banks to track PSOE payments linked to the Koldo case
Santiago Pedraz demands data on 81 bank accounts: 6 are from the socialists, 62 are from Ismael Oliver and his law firm and 11 are linked to Gaspar Zarrías
MadridThe judge is making a move to X-ray the alleged payments made by the PSOE to Leire Díez within the framework of the supposed maneuvers instigated to destabilize and hinder judicial cases involving Pedro Sánchez's circle. Santiago Pedraz wants to delve into the suspicion that a series of invoices paid by the party served to covertly fund the activity of the person known as the plumber of the PSOE. The National Court magistrate has accepted the request from the Civil Guard –endorsed by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office– and has requested information from twelve banks regarding the movements and balances of 81 accounts related to the case. Six of them belong to the PSOE. In addition, there are 62 belonging to Ismael Oliver and his law firm, eleven linked to Gaspar Zarrías, who was vice president of the Regional Government of Andalusia, and one belonging to Jacobo Teijelo, who is one of the lawyers for Santos Cerdán.
“It cannot be ruled out that the cross-referencing between the different accounts could shed light on those payments that are suspected to have been made, but which have not been able to be proven,” the judge argues, adopting the words of the two prosecutors. At first, Santiago Pedraz stopped the Central Operational Unit (UCO) in its tracks and urged it to indicate the “specific” accounts in which Leire Díez had supposedly received money in order to track them specifically. However, the UCO justified that it was necessary to “avoid a premature limitation” and the magistrate has ended up agreeing to it.
In a document to which ARA has had access, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office explains its thesis: “To articulate these payments without revealing the ordering party, companies belonging to the investigated individuals would have been used with the presumed collusion of the PSOE manager,” it relates. Although it initially also opposed the UCO's pretensions, it now acknowledges that it is appropriate, seeing that an “intricate system of financial support” existed and after a “superposition and concealment of certain payments” was discovered. Lawyer Ismael Oliver and Ana María Fuentes –the PSOE manager– will have to testify as investigated parties on Wednesday, September 9.
What payments were they?
The judge is scrutinizing the bank accounts of three people who, according to the Public Prosecutor's Office, were part of the "impetus" and the "intellectual and financial support" for Leire Díez, together with Santos Cerdán, who at that time was the number three of the PSOE. Firstly, between June and September 2024, Leire Díez received a remuneration of 4,000 euros from Zaño Consultora, Gaspar Zarrías's company. In total, 16,000 euros. The total cost of her hiring was 7,505 euros, which is the exact amount the PSOE paid to the company. For this reason, the suspicion is that it served as a front company. On the other hand, Gaspar Zarrías's defense denounces that he is involved in the case "solely for having given work" to Leire Díez.
Subsequently, the PSOE allegedly activated a new operation to get the money to Leire Díez through consulting invoices to two lawyers, who are now under investigation: Ismael Oliver and Jacobo Teijelo. First, Leire Díez received 27,225 euros from Ismael Oliver's firm: "The flow of money is perfectly traced," says the Public Prosecutor's Office. Later, Jacobo Teijelo received 125,000 euros from the PSOE which –according to the public ministry– were intended to pay him and could be the "vehicle" to remunerate Leire Díez, although "the payments" from him to her "have not been proven." When he testified, he explained that the PSOE hired him to study what could happen with the cases involving the party's surroundings.
A "prospective, absurd and baseless" request
There is an immediate initial reaction to this request. In a document to which ARA has had access, Gaspar Zarrías reproaches the judge for having given the green light to a “prospective, absurd and groundless” proceeding that goes beyond what would be necessary because it extends the scrutiny to accounts that “are not related” to the facts: “He is simply looking to see everything to see if he finds something,” he laments.
