The Santos Cerdán case is cornering the Navarrese Socialists.

MadridThe political crisis surrounding the Santos Cerdán case isn't centered solely in Madrid. The alleged corruption scandal involving the party's former number three has sent shockwaves not only through state politics but also through Navarrese politics. The revelations in the report by the Civil Guard's Central Operational Unit (UCO), which has thrown Pedro Sánchez's term in office, now put Maria Chivite, the Socialist president of Navarre, on the ropes due to the implications of the investigation in this autonomous community. Cerdán began his political career in the Socialist Party of Navarre (PSN), where he also served as organizational secretary, and before joining Congress, he had been a regional deputy. The UCO suspects that during that time, he already launched a scheme to generate illegal kickbacks in public works contracts. The Navarrese construction company Servinabar is also under scrutiny by the Civil Guard. Chivite's second-in-command in the party, Ramón Alzórriz, resigned Wednesday night because his partner worked at the company between 2021 and 2024.

Alzórriz justified his resignation not because he had participated in any irregularities, but rather as an "exercise in honesty." The former deputy general secretary and spokesperson for the PSN had not informed the party of this connection with the company under investigation by the UCO (National University of Navarre), and with his resignation, he seeks to act as a firewall against the mystery surrounding the plot that the Civil Guard may uncover. "I don't want to harm my party or the government of Navarre," he stated, while praising Chivite, whom he disassociated from his personal relationship with Servinabar. However, the Navarrese opposition was quick to demand the resignation of the party leader and one of the few Socialist regional presidents—along with Salvador Illa in Catalonia, Emiliano García-Page in Castilla-La Mancha, and Adrián Barbón in Asturias. Chivite refused to resign and defended the "cleanliness" of her government.

The Navarrese president has emphasized that there is "no indication of illegality" on the part of Alzórriz, but rather that it was a "mistake of not communicating something that could have been important." The "responsibilities" she assumes are for having communicated "unknown information" late, she insisted in a media appearance this Thursday. However, the PP and UPN have insisted that Chivite, who was not the leading force and governs in coalition with Geroa Bai and Contigo Navarra (a confluence of the left of the PSOE) and thanks to the external support of EH Bildu, must fold. "Crying is an option. Staying is not," affirm PP sources. Génova focused on this ramification of the case because it further wears down Sánchez and announced that it will summon "the entire Navarrese branch of the PSOE corruption network" to the Senate's commission of inquiry into the Koldo case.

"The corruption of the PSOE is not limited to two people on Ferraz Street," maintains the PP leadership, which extends the doubts to other territories where the Socialists have governed. In this regard, Minister Diana Morant, leader of the Valencian Socialists, the federation from which another of those investigated, former minister José Luis Ábalos, hailed, has been pushed to affirm that "if there is any derivative that affects the Valencian Community, she will respond with the same forcefulness" as she did at the national level with Cerdán, the former number three of the PSOE. However, Morant has assured that she "has no fear," although confusion and uncertainty have settled in the PSOE. Sources from the party consulted by ARA do not rule out the possibility of new evidence from the UCO that could implicate more people. "We don't know what might come out, what we know is how we will act," they affirm.

Cerdán's Businesses

The UCO investigation has revealed that Cerdán was the owner of Servinabar, the company that allegedly participated in the corruption scheme and where Alzórriz's partner worked. During a search of the home of businessman Joseba Antxón Alonso Egurrola, Servinabar's largest shareholder, the Civil Guard found "a private deed of sale of shares" between Alonso Egurrola and Cerdán. Dated June 1, 2016, Alonso Egurrola transferred to Cerdán "1,350 of the 3,000 shares" that constituted the company, implying that the former number three of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) owned 45% of the construction company, which benefited from public contracts awarded by the Navarre government worth more than 7%. This was a year after the alleged corruption began, according to investigators.