Leire Díez has been under the scrutiny of the National High Court for days for allegedly orchestrating – and with the hand of Santos Cerdán – an structure to derail the judicial cases of Pedro Sánchez's circle. The investigation will take another step from next week with the declaration of lawyer Jacobo Teijelo as investigated and a battery of 24 witnesses who will begin to parade before Santiago Pedraz. According to the judge, what the so-called plumber of the PSOE did was to offer "remunerations or favors" in exchange for information or actions that would help to torpedo investigations uncomfortable for the socialists. Some of her interlocutors believed that what she was telling them was "fantastical," a "waste of time," or an "intrigue," even though Leire Díez boasted of having the capacity to maneuver in high instances to achieve her goals. Where did the tentacles she claimed to have reach?

Spanish political life has a quite explicit calendar this week: yesterday Begoña Gómez, President Sánchez's wife, declared before the judge; today the director general of the Civil Guard declares in the Senate about her contacts with Leire Díez, and tomorrow Zapatero has to declare for influence peddling and money laundering for having acted as an intermediary in the rescue of the airline company Plus Ultra, even though the former Spanish president has asked the judge for more days to defend himself regarding the origin of the jewels, which now turn out to have a value exceeding one million euros. It is a hellish moment for the PSOE.The judge must decide whether to withdraw Begoña Gómez's passport, because he does not want her to leave Spain as he believes there is a risk of flight, while from the Civil Guard's investigation into the PSOE's sewers it appears that Santos Cerdán ordered all of Leire Díez's trips to be approved without any verification and that “nobody knows what was happening in Cerdán’s office”. Contacts in Madrid tell me that most ministers are devastated, and that Sánchez is holding on because he is risking his life or, at least, his freedom. You already know the Catalan drift of this panorama: Salvador Illa is a close friend of Sánchez and, right now, he is the only socialist leader with weight in Spain.And in the meantime, what is Illa doing? Yesterday the president signed a new pact of these that he likes so much, this time with employers and unions, to relaunch industry, so that in three and a half years, by 2030, industry represents 25% of Catalonia's GDP. It does not currently reach 20% in an economy, like ours, heavily tilted towards the service sector.Catalonia is still an industrial country, and it began to be so more than a century ago. I mean that there are realities that are not improvised, and now Illa returns to a very Pujolista narrative of Catalonia as an engine through industrial growth. On Friday I heard the president in La Seu d'Urgell, at the Business Meeting in the Pyrenees. He spoke to them about that association of the Four Motors for Europe from Pujol's era, created in 1988: Catalonia (Barcelona), Baden-Württemberg (Stuttgart), Lombardy (Milan), and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (Lyon). Illa spoke to the businessmen about confidence, about the value of a public health system like Catalonia's, and even about Christian humanism. It was a speech of institutional and constitutional normality, without political adventures, very focused on reviving the country's economic potential through innovation, external openness, and exports, in a tone reminiscent of Pujol's, with the difference that 23 years have passed since Pujol stepped down as president. Illa speaks of the country's economic future like a convergent, perhaps because he aspires to win re-election from convergent centrality, now that the rose on the fist is withered and threatened and that the heirs of Convergence are trapped with the leader still in exile.Good morning.

A new report from the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard, to which ARA has had access, supports the alleged leadership role that Santos Cerdán would have exercised in the Leire Díez case. The National Court is investigating an alleged "criminal structure" to "obstruct" judicial proceedings and "protect the interests" of Pedro Sánchez. The 107-page document reinforces the existing evidence and, among other things, includes a report on the "management of travel expenses" related to Santos Cerdán and other members of his team in 2024 and 2025, which was prepared by the PSOE and handed over to the UCO three weeks ago. "He gave verbal instructions to his support staff to authorize any trip requested by Leire Díez in such a way that she personally communicated with the Secretariat staff to request trips," the report by Santiago Llorente, coordinator of the party's management, states.

The Leire case has become a real ticking time bomb for the PSOE. The trickle of information about the investigation and the appearance of names being dragged through the mud has forced the socialists to step forward to distance themselves from what the judge believes was a "criminal structure" to "destabilize" judicial investigations. The mantra repeated in Ferraz is that the accused made "use of the PSOE's name in vain." Pedro Sánchez has finally spoken out, stating during an official visit to the Balkans that everything was done behind his back: "I was never informed about Leire Díez's adventures. I never endorsed and never had knowledge of something I would never have tolerated," he said from Montenegro. The Spanish president acknowledged that everything that has come to light fills him with "disappointment, concern, and indignation" and announced that the PSOE's legal team is studying "what actions will be taken" in "defense of the party's honorability and integrity."

"A sum of individual behaviors by fake people, opportunists, and resentful individuals who have used the name of the PSOE in vain and falsely, much to the PSOE's regret." The phrase, written on X by the socialists' organization secretary, Rebeca Torró, summarizes the defense strategy the party has activated to distance itself from the plot that was operating from its headquarters on Ferraz street. The PSOE no longer denies that an organized group might have existed that was dedicated to trying to obtain information from investigations, police, judges, and prosecutors to pressure them. "The summary known today reveals a sum of intolerable behaviors by people who falsely and vainly used the name of the PSOE to benefit themselves or defend dark interests," published, also this Wednesday, the party's official account. What the socialist leadership fully rejects is that they were behind it, as, on the other hand, the investigating judge of the National Court, Santiago Pedraz, does suspect. In fact, the intention of the group allegedly led by Santos Cerdán and Leire Díez was precisely to deactivate the judicial proceedings against the PSOE.

The Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard concludes that Santos Cerdán, Leire Díez, and other individuals formed a group to promote a “set of indicatively criminal actions” with the aim of “protecting the interests at stake in a series of judicial cases” affecting the PSOE and, “directly or indirectly,” Pedro Sánchez or “certain members” of the Spanish government. This is one of the elements contained in one of the reports to which ARA had access and which forms part of the summary of the case being investigated by the judge of the National Court, Santiago Pedraz.

It was April 24, 2024, on the eve of the campaign for the Catalan Parliament elections, when Pedro Sánchez dropped a bombshell on social media. A letter to the citizens in which he confessed to being "deeply in love with his wife" and wondered if it was worth going forward after learning that proceedings had been opened against Begoña Gómez in a court. He took five days to reflect, during which many assumed he would resign... but he stayed. He decided to resist. The reader may wonder why this episode is being brought up now, but there is an explanation: it was during this period of reflection that Judge Santiago Pedraz places the beginning of the new judicial front that since this Wednesday the PSOE faces.

There is no doubt that the PSOE is immersed in a real judicial storm in which new headlines replace the previous ones almost every day and where it is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. To begin with, both in the case affecting former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and in this offshoot of the so-called Leire case, the accusations are serious and the indications are worrying. But it is difficult to believe that all this is due to the blind action of justice when this is a government that has directly confronted the judges, for example with the approval of the amnesty, and when it is notorious that cases have been opened against the entourage of President Pedro Sánchez with a notable whiff of lawfare, such as the one affecting his wife.

One year and one day after Leire Díez, known as the PSOE's plumber, burst into the news, her name has once again been strongly heard. In the last 366 days, Santos Cerdán has resigned as number 3 of the PSOE, has gone to prison and has been released, and Díez has gone from anonymity to the political forefront. And now the National Court has definitively connected their paths. Judge Santiago Pedraz believes that, along with other people, they concocted a network with the aim of "systematically and continuously destabilizing and hindering" any judicial case that could splash Pedro Sánchez. Santos Cerdán, who was the "leader" and made the "strategic" decisions, commissioned Leire Díez in April 2024 to "coordinate and execute" all actions. The plan involved offering "remunerations or favors" to Civil Guard officers, investigators, or prosecutors "in exchange for information or acts contrary to the exercise of their duties." The focus was particularly on judges who were beginning to investigate Pedro Sánchez's wife and brother.

Some of the 400 people evicted yesterday in Badalona They spent the night on the street.

Some of the 400 people evicted yesterday in BadalonaThey spent the night on the street

Santos Cerdán declared in the Senate that "There is a before and after the photo with PuigdemontA man facing prison defends himself as best he can, and in these times in Spain and the world, that amounts to saying his prosecution is political. Yes: when Pedro Sánchez abandoned him, Cerdán was left reeling. Therefore, it's pertinent to ask whether there's nothing to the alleged corruption, or whether corruption and Cerdán's judicial persecution are simultaneously compatible with an amnesty law, said the Vox senator questioning him. Perhaps he didn't realize the gravity of what he was admitting. fachoferaHe spoke with the offended tone of the coup-plotting generals, insisting: "There is something crucial for which you and your entire government should be tried, and that is having granted amnesty to coup plotters who wanted to break up Spain." Cerdán had just been handed the opportunity on a silver platter: "I've said that from the beginning. You're right about that: it all stems from here."

Under investigation for alleged corruption in the Supreme Court, Santos Cerdán presented his defense strategy in the Senate on Wednesday. This comes amid a crisis within the Spanish government. cases piling up in the courtsand a month later to be released on bail from prisonThe former number three of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) appeared before the Koldo case committee in the Senate to once again assert his innocence. Although he invoked his right to remain silent regarding the specific charges against him, he claimed to be the victim of a "persecution worthy of the Inquisition" and linked the investigation to his role in the amnesty law agreement. "I will defend myself; let it be clear, I am innocent, I am not corrupt, and sooner or later you will be able to verify this," he said in an initial statement read from a laptop. The former socialist leader, who spoke with his lawyer, Jacobo Teijelo, before entering the courtroom, denounced the "unfair trial" he has been subjected to, claiming that "no specific crime is being investigated." And in a subsequent response to the senator from the Junts per Catalunya party, Eduard Pujol, he stated that the case against him "would not have exploded" as it did if he hadn't led the negotiations with Junts for Pedro Sánchez's investiture, which culminated in the Brussels agreement. "There is a before and after the photo with Puigdemont [...] Everything changed after that photo," he said.

Pedro Sánchez's government is increasingly dependent on the courts. Anxiety is spreading among the Socialist ranks, especially after a week that has brought two new developments: five arrests These events have brought to light two new cases—which remain secret—and a Civil Guard report that once again implicates José Luis Ábalos. These are ongoing investigations into issues that strike at the heart of the Spanish president's political roadmap and the origins of his rise to power. Of the five arrested, the National Court has released former Socialist Party member Leire Díez, Vicente Fernández Guerrero, former president of SEPI (State Holding Company for Industrial Participations), and Basque businessman Antxon Alonso, owner of the company Servinabar and a friend of Santos Cerdán, former PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) organizational secretary. All five were released with precautionary measures (passport confiscation and periodic court appearances) after the prosecution did not request their imprisonment.

Last June, theCivil Guard report that implicated Santos Cerdán in an alleged corruption scheme It shocked the PSOEFour days after the case broke, Pedro Sánchez convened the party leadership and announced a series of measures to answer: among others, their appearance in CongressThe expulsion of José Luis Ábalos from the party and the creation of a parliamentary commission to "uncover the truth" about the Koldo case. The request, registered the following day by the parliamentary group, argued that the "seriousness of the events and conduct" reflected in the UCO report "demanded" a parliamentary investigation because it was "essential" to know the facts "in depth."

The 180 meters separating the Supreme Court from the National Court have never seemed so short. Last Thursday, while José Luis Ábalos faced the possibility of being sent to prison by Leopoldo Puente in the case concerning the purchase of face masks – as It ended up happening—Víctor de Aldama testified before Ismael Moreno regarding contracts awarded by the Canary Islands government during the pandemic; an alleged corruption scheme that has led to multiple parallel investigations with interconnected links. So much so, that even the lawyers involved are still unclear about the number of ongoing cases and their scope. We're taking it one step at a time.

The National Court judge investigating the Koldo García case, Ismael Moreno, has requested that the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) provide him with a list of all cash payments made between 2017 and 2024. The magistrate wants the Socialists to submit the documentation within a maximum of 10 days. "The PSOE wishes to clarify that we are not under investigation in this case, and that our commitment to transparency, as well as our cooperation with the justice system, is absolute. We will provide the court with the requested documentation," stated Socialist sources. Weeks ago, the party headquarters in Ferraz specifically provided details of cash payments made to José Luis Ábalos, Santos Cerdán, Koldo García, and the party's Organizational Secretary. The judge is acting at the request of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, which seeks to dispel doubts about the income of the former Minister of Transport and former PSOE Organizational Secretary, as well as his former advisor. The public prosecutor's office speaks of a possible criminal offense ranging "from money laundering" to a possible embezzlement committed against the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party). According to the ruling of the National Court magistrate, the investigations carried out in the Supreme Court regarding the Koldo case do not "sufficiently clarify" the origin of the cash that Ábalos received, which appears in one of the reports submitted by the Central Operational Unit (UCO).

One day after Santos Cerdán's release from prison, the PSOE is widening the gap between itself and its number three in order to shield itself from the alleged corruption scheme. This was made clear on Thursday by Minister Félix Bolaños, who stated that the latest report from the Central Operational Unit (UCO) The Civil Guard provides "solid evidence" against the former Socialist Party organizing secretary. "There are many things that are clear," added Minister Ángel Víctor Torres. "If [Cerdán]He claims there is evidence that they are lies."He will have to prove it," she added on Catalunya Ràdio. The former Socialist Party number three will have an opportunity to explain himself in December before the Senate's investigative committee. The People's Party (PP) has taken advantage of his release from prison to announce that it will summon him. "Now that he's free and has time," the PP spokesperson in the Senate quipped. Speaking to the media at an event in Madrid this morning, she asserted that those at the party headquarters in Ferraz are "very disappointed and shocked" by the new developments in the case when asked about the alleged 2% commissions that, according to the UCO (Central Operative Unit of the Civil Guard), Cerdán received in exchange for awarding public works contracts to Acciona. "We had the information we have. If we had, we would have behaved differently," she emphasized. Juanfran Serrano, Cerdán's former deputy in the PSOE's organizational secretariat, also expressed his shock at the revelations about Cerdán. The PP has also summoned him to the Senate. In his case, a date has already been set for Thursday, December 4th. He admitted that the latest information on the case is "damaging" to the party, but they have emphasized the speed and "forcefulness" of their actions in relation to the scheme. "It didn't affect the party, but rather it was a scheme involving specific individuals," Bolaños said. And he added: "We are absolutely certain that there is no irregular financing."

The ARA publishes new information about the Cerdán caseNow that the judge has lifted the secrecy order on the latest Civil Guard report, conversations between Antxon Alonso and his wife, Karmele Atutxa, have surfaced. Both, worried, complain about the "excessive spending" of Santos Cerdán's wife, Francisca Muñoz, known as Paqui. Alonso laments, "All the saleswomen at El Corte Inglés know her. Spending and spending. And at restaurants, weekend after weekend." His wife complains that, on top of everything else, they aren't discreet.

On Wednesday, morning shows were buzzing with the new report from the Central Operational Unit (UCO) on the Santos Cerdán case. But the approach ofPublic Mirror It was very original. They incorporated an allegorical staging. Susanna Griso's program invited former Socialist deputy Diego López Garrido to comment on the report. But they weren't so much interested in what the man could explain as in how they would represent him.