The PSOE audit rules out illegal financing, but finds "surprising" expenses by Ábalos

BarcelonaA first forensic report of the audit that the PSOE He announced months ago that he would be in charge of internal economic operations. The party has ruled out the existence of illegal financing within the organization because there is no evidence of undeclared funds, but it warns that it has found some "surprising" expenses charged to the party by José Luis Ábalos's organizational secretariat. This is according to the report accessed by the EFE news agency.

The audit, carried out by professors Félix Alberto Vega Borruego and César Martínez Sánchez of the Autonomous University of Madrid, examined cash payments made to the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) between 2017 and 2024, as well as the party's cash reserves. The analysis was based on the PSOE's cash records, expense reports, and receipts from the organizational secretariat—data that the socialist party sent to the National Court in the case involving Ábalos and his former advisor, Koldo García.

A "coherent" system, but a €332 menu

Both professors concluded that in seven years – from 2017 to 2024 – the PSOE allocated up to €940,388 to the party's coffers. Of this amount, €19,637 went to Ábalos, but only up to 2019. Simultaneously, between 2017 and 2019, €11,291 was withdrawn from the PSOE's coffers and sent to Koldo García. Furthermore, the report also indicates that between 2023 and 2024, Santos Cerdán received €7,433 in cash, although during his time in the party, his secretary only reported three settlements for amounts not exceeding €375 each. The audit considers the PSOE's cash management system during the analyzed period to be "consistent, closed, and verifiable" because "all cash inflows originate from bank transfers or correspond to adjustments for advances, and all outflows are properly documented." However, the report also raises concerns about some "surprising" expenses incurred by the organizational secretariat during Ábalos's tenure. In this regard, the audit focuses on transactions such as three invoices on the same day for which "the explanation is not readily apparent," a restaurant meal for 332 euros, and a receipt for one hundred euros per person after a meal of goat and oysters. In fact, the report highlights how expenses exceeding the 60-euro threshold per person increased from 4% to 25% in just two years (from 2018 to 2020). Furthermore, the professors were also struck by receipts from restaurants in Andorra, Brussels, and Bruges, which they consider "surprising" locations. Regarding the details of the payments, the audit points out that "generally, the specific method" in which they were made and their recipient are not recorded, with some exceptions: sometimes Ábalos's driver appeared, sometimes Ábalos himself, sometimes Koldo García, and there is even a receipt in the name of Ábalos's former mother-in-law. Despite these "surprising" expenses, the professors assert that they have thoroughly analyzed the PSOE's cash settlements, which exceed 2,000 euros and encompass multiple receipts, and indicate that most expenses, except for some supplies and a few tickets, were made in restaurants at a "per-diner" rate. From the PSOE's defense to the PP's mockery

The Socialist Party has seized upon the leaked report to reiterate that "there is no irregular financing" within the PSOE, a claim Pedro Sánchez has long clung to in an attempt to gain some breathing room amidst the legal cases plaguing his inner circle. "Those currently facing legal proceedings have the right to defend themselves, but the PSOE has acted decisively, and there are no cases of irregular financing within the party," insisted the Minister for Digital Transformation, Óscar López, this Tuesday in an interview on TVE.

In contrast, the PP resorted to irony and mockery to discredit the PSOE report: "[It's like] commissioning Ábalos to write a report on the abolition of prostitution or Paco Salazar on sexual harassment," stated the PP spokesperson in the Senate, Alicia García, at a press conference. "It's the same PSOE that commissioned the investigation." Along the same lines, the PP spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz, expressed herself on social media: "The PSOE rules out illegal financing of the PSOE; who needs judges when they have enough on their own?" she asserted.