Who's who in the dirty war between the PSOE and the PP?

MadridFinally, it has turned out that the alleged UCO report did exist, and that there was evidence against Santos Cerdán. This had been warned about for weeks and months by certain right-wing media outlets.The Confidential, The World, OkDiario, The Objective—until it was confirmed once the Civil Guard submitted it to the Supreme Court. The public prosecutors in the proceedings had access to it, and it was leaked to the media. Now, during all this time, how did these newspapers manage to obtain insights into the investigation? Indeed, readers, it is just as you suspect.

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Has the UCO (Central University of Catalonia) played with information to undermine the Spanish government? This is one of the elements underlying the judicial war between the PSOE and the PP in the sewers of the state. The indications of criminal activity against the party's former number three, which may be real—Pedro Sánchez has given credibility—do not preclude the possibility of maneuvers to ensure that they are revealed at a certain time. Or at least that's what a Sumar advisor, Xavi Muñoz, was implying in a tweet to X last Thursday: "The UCO has had Koldo's phone number since 20/2/24; it took them 14 months to send the Santos Cerdán report. One of life's coincidences, a week after it was leaked that the PSOE is moving against the... What exactly was Muñoz suggesting?

We would have to go back to the case of Leire Díez, the alleged PSOE plumber, and the audio in which she could be heard asking for compromising information from the head of the UCO's economic crimes department. "I need [Antonio] Balas, that's clear," Díez told a businessman accused in a case about fraud in the hydrocarbons sector at the National Court, Alejandro Hamlyn. Balas is the one who appeared in Pamplona to search the company Servinabar this Tuesday and who runs the investigation into the Koldo-Ábalos-Cerdán case from the UCO. It's legitimate to wonder why Leire Díez was in such a hurry to dig up dirt on Balas in that February conversation. Everything obtained from the searches on Koldo García—14 months ago—had been pending for months, and there were suspicions that it could affect Santos Cerdán.

The PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) has distanced itself from Leire Díez's actions and suspended her from membership. Officially, it was stated that she did so voluntarily, but on Thursday Sánchez said that "Leire Díez was requested to leave," with the curious fact that it was Santos Cerdán who arranged it. Spanish government sources explain that Díez was someone close to José Luis Ábalos and that it was he who placed her at the public company Enusa once Sánchez took office. They claim that Díez began collaborating with businessman Javier Pérez Dolset, who had begun a personal crusade against her. the police sewers linked to the PP and former commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, with the aim of dismantling the convictions regarding the EREs in Andalusia and providing a service to the party. According to these sources, the PSOE has disassociated itself. Regarding the meeting that Díez and Dolset held during Sánchez's five days of reflection in April 2024 with Cerdán, his right-hand man, Juanfran Serrano, and the PSOE's communications director, Ion Antolín, in Moncloa, they maintain that it is not a problem and served to confirm that she was a "freak."

A "patriotic" one?

The Spanish government reiterates that it has done nothing against alleged adversaries in the sewers. In fact, the Moncloa government does not believe that there is a patriotic UCO, as Leire Díez's entourage maintains, but rather that there may simply be "elements," as seen in the case of Juan Vicente Bonilla, a former member of the UCO who, since October 2023, has been in the Security Department of the Isa D government. WhatsApp with a confidant, José Luis Caramés, in which they attacked Sánchez. "We've been a bunch of idiots," they defend in the Moncloa Palace, denying any dirty tricks by the PSOE to discredit the UCO (Union of the Autonomous Communities). In fact, in the Begoña Gómez case, Balas's team told Judge Peinado that he had not been convicted of any crimes.

Víctor de Aldama's appearance last week at Díez's hearing confirmed who his adversaries are—at least in part. As can be seen in the graph, there are some names of people charged in the National Court in schemes involving fraud in the hydrocarbon sector and in the Koldo case—such as Aldama and Civil Guard officer Rubén Villalba. Many of the businessmen implicated in the oil VAT fraud are represented by the law firm of José Antonio Choclán, with whom a lawyer close to Leire Díez, Jacobo Teijelo, is engaged in a court dispute. Audio recordings released in recent days have revealed how Díez had approached some of these individuals, such as businessman Alejandro Hamlyn and Civil Guard officer Rubén Villalba, to propose a change of lawyer: that they abandon Choclán and hire Teijelo, a supporter of a strategy to discredit certain elements. In fact, Teijelo's client is a Civil Guard officer indicted in the National Court who, according to his account, is being prosecuted as a result of a maneuver by Balas. This week, the National Court rejected this lawyer's attempt to derail the case by alleging an irregular origin of the investigation.

The Catalonia Operation

The combination of interests brought together Leire Díez, Javier Pérez Dolset, Teijelo—also Dolset's lawyer—Patricia López—a journalist and expert on the schemes of former police commissioner José Manuel Villarejo—and other victims of the sewers. This group also includes former Barça president Sandro Rosell and the Cierco brothers, former owners of Banca Privada de Andorra. The former spent two years in pretrial detention for a case in which he was acquitted and maintains that the cause stems from irregular maneuvers by Villarejo's constellation during Mariano Rajoy's government. The Ciercos were victims of the Andorran plot of Operation Catalunya and have also attempted to have the Congressional commission of inquiry discuss the matter. They have achieved this through Junts and its deputy Josep Pagès, who has also met with Dolset on occasion.

The businessman, considered the financier of this group against the PP's sewers, has even made approaches to members of Villarejo's orbit. Conversations with Martínez have transpired and, according to The ConfidentialMartín Blas and Dolset prepared documentation to contribute to the commission on the Catalunya operation.