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 secretary. This is according to the report accessed by the EFE news agency, which the PSOE announced in July to dismiss any irregularities in its accounts in response to the judicial investigation against its two most recent organizational secretaries, José Luis Ábalos and Santos Cerdán. The audit, conducted by professors Félix Alberto Vega Borruego and César Martínez Sánchez from the Autonomous University of Madrid, examined cash payments made within the PSOE between 2017 and 2024, as well as the party's cash reserves. To carry out the analysis, they relied 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 of 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 Simultaneously, between 2017 and 2019, €11,291 was withdrawn from the PSOE's coffers and sent to Koldo García.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 active time in the party, his secretary only reported three settlements, each for amounts not exceeding €375. 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" and 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, apart from some supplies and tickets, were incurred at restaurants at a "per-diner" rate.