The Supreme Court is keeping Santos Cerdán in prison because it believes he could still destroy evidence.

BarcelonaThe Supreme Court instructor in the Koldo case of alleged corruption, Leopoldo Puente, has agreed this Thursday to keep the former secretary of organization of the PSOE Santos Cerdán in provisional prison, as requested by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. Thus, the court rejects Cerdán's latest request, considering that there is still a risk of destruction or concealment of evidence regarding the alleged scheme of collecting commissions in exchange for the awarding of public works, in which he allegedly played a leading role. Cerdán has been deprived of liberty since June 30, and his defense, led by attorney Benet Salellas, requested his release on June 8 after 70 days in pretrial detention.

According to the defense, the investigation into Cerdán is being conducted "without limits" and seeks to "incriminate activities inherent to political participation." This opinion was rejected by the Supreme Court in a ruling in which Judge Leopoldo Puente sided with the opinion of the head of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, Alejandro Luzón, as well as with the private prosecution, and emphasized that this is not the appropriate time to modify Cerdán's procedural status due to the potential risks posed by manipulation by the defense. Despite this entrenched position, Judge Puente warns that the pretrial detention will likely not extend beyond December 30th, that is, no more than six months after his imprisonment.

Requests denied

So far, all requests to release Cerdán have been thwarted by the courts, but Puente has already set the deadline for the day before New Year's Eve. "This is a maximum period, yes, but that does not mean, of course, that such a severely distressing precautionary measure could last until then, if the reasons that justified its adoption had already disappeared," the judge states in the ruling. In any case, the court does not consider now to be the time for release due to a risk it still sees as latent, and warns that "the investigations into Cerdán's precise financial situation have not concluded." Among other reasons, because it intends to "delve deeper" into the "possible financial ties that may exist between Servinabar 2000," a key Navarrese company in the plot, and Cerdán himself and "his close circle," which requires "complex documentary analysis that, to some extent, could still be hidden." And that is the same argument he uses to try to clarify "the possible economic and personal relationships" between the former Socialist leader or Servinabar 2000 and "specific individuals acting on behalf of Acciona," another of the companies implicated, supposedly with close ties to Servinabar in this case.

Although the judicial investigation is progressing "in the indicated directions," according to the judge, "it has not yet concluded, not even in its essential aspects," nor has "the maximum term of provisional imprisonment" elapsed. The court is investigating Cerdán for the alleged crimes of criminal organization, influence peddling, and bribery, in a case squarely contested by the former politician's defense. Salellas's brief, which the court rejected this Thursday, listed a series of irregularities, such as the investigation of those with special jurisdiction without first requesting a request for a waiver of immunity or the role of a Civil Guard officer, also charged in the Koldo case being heard by the National Court. According to the defense, "there is no property to be found, no chalet or hunting estate," and "the seven-month credit granted [to investigators] to prove the corruption hypothesis has expired, there is no evidence, and the proceedings are tainted by human rights violations."