The People's Party sees signs of irregular financing within the PSOE: "This is the end of Sánchez's escape."

BarcelonaFor the PP, the Civil Guard report The report, which uncovers cash payments to former minister José Luis Ábalos and his former advisor Koldo García, marks a turning point in the alleged corruption scheme affecting the PSOE. Not even 24 hours after the document was made public, the secretary general of the Popular Party (PP), Miguel Tellado, appeared at a press conference in Génova to demand urgent explanations about these payments and the expenses of up to 95,000 euros that Ábalos allegedly covered with money of uncertain origin. According to Tellado, the report contains evidence of irregular financing of the PSOE—something the Socialists have so far always denied—and, therefore, marks "the destruction of an era": that of Spanish President Pedro Sánchez, at the head of the party and the Spanish government. "This is as far as Sánchez's escape goes," he declared.

The PSOE admitted to having made cash payments to Ábalos and justified them, but the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard doesn't see the numbers adding up. In response to this, the PP wants the PSOE to produce the "tickets and receipts" that would prove that Ferraz management withdrew that money from the bank. "If they don't do this, the existence of a black box will be perfectly proven," said the PP secretary general. He also referred to the witness, businesswoman Carmen Pano, who testified that she herself had brought 90,000 euros in cash in plastic bags to the PSOE headquarters on the orders of commissioner Víctor de Aldama, who is being investigated in the scheme for allegedly collecting illegal commissions in the awarding of public works contracts through the Ministry of Transport. Tellado also pointed out that, according to the anti-fraud law, cash payments of more than 2,500 euros cannot be made.

And the members?

Since the outbreak of the Cerdán case, the People's Party (PP) has called for Sánchez's resignation and urged him to call elections, as it did this Saturday, arguing that this is the final straw in the judicial scandals affecting the president's entourage—from his wife, Begoña Gómez, to his brother, the Attorney General. The PP has also attempted to enlist the complicity of Sánchez's investiture partners to undermine his parliamentary alliances and make the term even more unviable. So far, they have been unsuccessful, but today Tellado proved it again: "The smell of rottenness comes from every door and window in Ferraz. The partners no longer have an excuse," he said.

Juntos still has to decide. This fall, whether or not he breaks with the PSOE, but not because of that scandal, but because of the breaches they accuse the Socialists of in the agreements they have reached there since 2023. Podemos, for its part, is the party of the plurinational majority that has been harshest on the PSOE for the alleged corruption cases affecting its two most recent organizational secretaries, Ábalos and Santos Cerdá. After defeating the transfer of immigration powers to Catalonia agreed with Junts, along with the PP and Vox, the purple party is now threatening to blow up the vote on the decree law embargoing arms against Israel, a key issue for the Spanish government. In this scenario, and in an interview on RNE this Saturday, Bildu's spokesperson in Congress, Oskar Matute, called for putting aside "tactical" issues and focusing on what he believes should be the objective of the plurinational forces: preventing the PP and Vox from reaching the Moncloa.

Montero and Zapatero avoid the case

On the other hand, Tellado reproached the Socialists for remaining "silent" a day after the report and asked them to clarify which other leaders received envelopes containing money from Ferraz: "Did Pedro Sánchez receive equal amounts of money?" he asked. In a statement, the PSOE maintained that it was "slander" to attribute irregular payments to him, but no leader came forward publicly to assess the matter. Ábalos did, however, in a message on X in which he also defended that all payments were "legal" and had been audited and registered with the Court of Auditors. Regarding the assignments handled by Koldo García, he defended: "I have always indicated the concepts: from a simple Christmas gift for my children, to a Bizum or a travel expense paid in parts, the sale of a car or a restaurant."

For the time being, the PSOE's top brass continue to avoid commenting on the UCO's latest findings—and the uncomfortable image the photograph of an envelope of money bearing the PSOE logo represents for the Socialists. In a conversation in Seville this Saturday, First Vice President María Jesús Montero and former President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero made no mention of them. Montero took the opportunity to attack the Andalusian People's Party (PP) for its errors. in breast cancer control that have affected some 2,000 women. "The Andalusian People's Party should talk less about Puigdemont and focus more on public health," Zapatero added.