Spanish judge summons Cerdán’s lawyer in probe over PSOE ‘sewers’ operation

Summoning of the lawyer

On 12 June, Audiencia Nacional judge Santiago Pedraz ordered Jacobo Teijelo, the lawyer of former PSOE secretary of organization Santos Cerdán, to appear before court on 25 June as an investigated party. The summons, disclosed in a judicial providence, follows the state prosecutor’s admission of two meetings between Teijelo, the party’s alleged fixer Leire Díez, and senior officials from the Fiscalía General del Estado during Álvaro García Ortiz’s term as fiscal general. The magistrate had already imputed Teijelo in May together with Cerdán, party manager Ana María Fuentes, and others.

The alleged “sewers” operation

The probe examines whether PSOE funded a covert network directed by Cerdán and coordinated by former socialist militant Leire Díez. Investigators suspect the group sought sensitive material on judges, prosecutors, and security-force members involved in court cases that touch the ruling party or the government. Pedraz is looking into possible crimes of revealing secrets, bribery, and offences against state institutions. A Guardia Civil report suggests the party used false invoices to disguise payments to the network. A contract signed by Fuentes in November 2024 funnelled at least €125,000 to Teijelo for supposed legal consultancy, paid in monthly instalments of €15,000 and €25,000.

Meetings inside the state prosecution office

Court inquiries revealed that Teijelo and Díez met twice with Diego Villafañe, then fiscal general García Ortiz’s deputy in the Secretaría Técnica, and with prosecutor Beatriz López Pesquera. The first encounter took place on 6 March 2025; the second followed in late March or early April. The Fiscalía General said Díez was introduced as a “colleague from the office” and played only a minor role in the conversations. García Ortiz, who was informed afterwards, had personally handled a complaint from the network against the judge investigating the brother of prime minister Pedro Sánchez, overriding a junior prosecutor who had dismissed it.

Timeline of the operation

Leire Díez’s own jottings captured the frustration of the group.

“They told us that the lawyer should approach the prosecutor to meet with him to reach an agreement. When the lawyer approached him, the prosecutor said he had ‘a broken telephone’ and there would be no agreement.”

The notes list around ten unfulfilled promises by the prosecution service in cases involving Sánchez’s brother, retired police commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, the Kitchen affair, and the Zed Worldwide proceedings.

What’s next

Teijelo’s appearance, now set for the morning of 25 June, marks the next step in an inquiry that has already drawn in half a dozen individuals close to Spain’s governing party. The court continues to request documents from several prosecutor’s offices, while the Guardia Civil investigation unit analyses the money trail.