PSOE triples reported payments to ‘party plumber’ Leire Díez, admitting €44,859 for communication work

Payment correction

The Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) has nearly tripled the amount it acknowledged paying to Leire Díez, the so-called party plumber, for communication advisory work in Cantabria. In a filing to Madrid's Investigating Court No. 9, dated 14 May, the party admitted paying €44,859.40, up from the €15,612.04 it had initially reported in December 2025. The corrected figure covers two contracts: 32,903.28 euros for the first period, from 1 September 2015 to 28 February 2017, and 11,956.12 euros for the second, from 1 March to 7 September 2017, the latter including an indemnity for early termination.

The investigation

Judge Arturo Zamarriego is probing whether Díez, together with businessman Javier Pérez Dolset and journalist Pere Rusiñol, led a "continuous, coordinated criminal activity" to gather compromising information from senior Guardia Civil and anti-corruption prosecutors. The aim, according to the investigation, was to thwart or undermine judicial probes affecting the party and the government of Pedro Sánchez. Separately, Santiago Pedraz, a judge at the Audiencia Nacional, is leading a parallel investigation into the same network, which has also implicated former PSOE organization secretary Santos Cerdán and party manager Ana Fuentes. Pedraz recently partially lifted the secrecy of the proceedings.

Political fallout

The PSOE's amended filing came fewer than two weeks before the Guardia Civil’s Central Operative Unit (UCO) raided the party's Ferraz headquarters seeking documents. The timing has drawn scrutiny, but the party insists it acted in complete collaboration with the judiciary. The case has become a major political headache for Sánchez, with the opposition and civil society groups like Hazte Oír—acting as a popular accuser—demanding full accountability.

Chronology of events