Spain's ruling party under siege: police seek bank records as 'sewers' scandal engulfs PM's allies

The Ferraz Street request

Police were at the headquarters of Spain's ruling Socialist Party (PSOE) on Wednesday seeking documents as part of an investigation into an alleged plot to destabilise judicial proceedings against the party or the government, the High Court said. The alleged offences include belonging to a criminal organisation, bribery, disclosure of secrets, inducement to give false testimony, false accusation, falsification of commercial documents, misconduct in public office, influence peddling and offences against state institutions. Investigating judge Santiago Pedraz ordered the request of various documents and electronic files from the party's headquarters, a procedure that requires prior notice and targets specific items, distinct from an entry and search carried out without warning.

Wednesday's request for documents did not constitute a police search, adding that the party was fully cooperating with the courts and had absolute respect for the judiciary.

Bank accounts and a 20,000-euro payment

Judge Pedraz has also required the PSOE and its Catalan sister party PSC to hand over part of their bank movements from 2024 and 2025, the period in which the alleged network led by Leire Díez and former PSOE organisation secretary Santos Cerdán is said to have operated. The focus is on a payment of 20,000 euros the PSOE allegedly made to Grupo Crónica Libre through a third agency, framed as an advertising campaign in Catalonia and managed between April and May 2024. Investigators believe that payment could be linked to a transfer of 18,125.80 euros from Crónica Libre to Iki Group Communications. The online outlet Crónica Libre, created in April 2022, had a preponderant role in disseminating information gathered by the network.

The Civil Guard chief and the 'plumber'

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska is under extreme political pressure after being forced into what one outlet called a dialectical pirouette to justify his previous denials about the case. He had repeatedly stated that Civil Guard director Mercedes González had not met with Leire Díez, the former socialist militant known as the party's plumber. González later admitted the encounters took place. The Civil Guard confirmed two meetings and a failed attempt at a third due to family reasons of Díez. The summary shows Díez boasted of her friendship with the director and that WhatsApp messages were exchanged and then deleted by González's automatic deletion system. Reports also indicate Díez sounded out González on whether commander Rubén Villalba, charged in the Koldo case, could return to his post.

She at no time told me that she had held any meeting with Leire related to the facts of the plot or where it had been discussed.

The opposition pounces

The conservative People's Party (PP) has mobilised its absolute majority in the Senate to force González to appear before the upper house next week. PP sources said she should not remain in her post a second longer. The party's spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz, demanded the resignation of both Marlaska and González, accusing them of lying. The PP also called for Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to resign, with deputy secretary Alma Ezcurra arguing he is either incompetent for not knowing about his own party's mafia or a criminal if he did know.

They lie. They lie to everyone and all the time because they know that what we are learning is true. The director of the Civil Guard and Marlaska are taking too long to resign.

The government's defence

Minister of the Presidency and Justice Félix Bolaños defended Sánchez's integrity from Luxembourg, where he was attending an EU justice ministers' meeting. He said a person was using the president's name continuously, probably to make herself seem important, but that the summary itself showed there was nothing indicating the president had any knowledge of the matter. Marlaska, meanwhile, crossed a political frontier by referring to the investigated facts as a plot and admitting their gravity, a shift from the government's previous strategy of presenting the case as individual actions unconnected to the executive or the PSOE.

It is indisputable that there is a person who uses the name of the president of the government continuously and probably does so to make herself seem important. But the summary itself answers that question because there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that indicates that the president of the government had any knowledge of this.

The Zarrías connection

Judge Pedraz rejected a complaint from former politician Gaspar Zarrías about the seizure of documents from his Madrid office. Zarrías, a former high-ranking official under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, returned to legal practice in 2019. The judge is investigating whether he was one of the vehicles the PSOE used to pay money to Leire Díez in exchange for her work digging up dirt on judges, prosecutors and civil guards. Zarrías admitted before the court that he paid 16,000 euros to Leire in four separate salary payments. Agents seized nearly 20,000 euros in 20- and 50-euro notes and a large quantity of client files from his office. Zarrías called the seizure manifestly illegal and void, arguing it covered files dating back to 2015, five years before the period under investigation. Pedraz has kept the documentation in the case file pending examination and removal of material unrelated to the PSOE or Leire Díez.

Last week the High Court said it was investigating former Socialist premier Zapatero on suspicion of leading an influence-peddling and money-laundering network, another blow to the leftist coalition government. Zapatero denied any wrongdoing and Sánchez reiterated his support for his predecessor.