Provisional prison for Santos Cerdán: the 'PSOE case' gets even more complicated

The "PSOE case" is getting more complicated. The Supreme Court judge has ordered unconditional provisional imprisonment for Santos Cerdán, former organizational secretary of President Pedro Sánchez's party. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office had requested the precautionary measure after hearing the statement of the accused for alleged corruption.

The judge is sending him to prison provisionally after finding sufficient evidence of criminal organization, bribery, and influence peddling. This further complicates PSOE's situation, due to the alleged involvement of senior party officials in receiving kickbacks for the awarding of public works contracts.

The man who was President Pedro Sánchez's right-hand man and the person who signed the investiture agreement between PSOE and Junts per Catalunya has declared his innocence. He has also denied all accusations and has not recognized himself in the audio recordings that would fully implicate him in the scheme.

He also claims that his indictment is due to a "political persecution" promoted by the "fago" and for having been the link between socialists and Carles Puigdemont, PNV, and Bildu.

Despite his attempt at defense, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office was clear. They considered Santos Cerdán the head of an alleged criminal organization that collected kickbacks with the aim of fraudulently awarding public works contracts. For all these reasons, they requested his unconditional provisional imprisonment because they believe there is a risk of flight and destruction of evidence.

They have also added two more charges to his indictment: capital flight and money laundering, which are added to the already known charges of criminal organization and bribery.

The Supreme Court judge listened to the prosecutor's office and ended up ordering provisional imprisonment.

The "PSOE case" gets more complicated

These new decisions by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and the Supreme Court only serve to show the magnitude of the scheme in which some of the main socialist leaders such as Santos Cerdán, José Luis Ábalos, and Koldo García were allegedly involved. For now, PSOE as an organization has always limited itself to distancing itself from the actions of three of its leaders, two of them (Cerdán and Ábalos) former organizational secretaries of the party.

According to La Sexta, there was surprise in Ferraz when they learned of the request for provisional imprisonment for Santos Cerdán. They say the news "came as a cold shower" at PSOE headquarters. As the investigation progresses and the respective statements of the alleged participants are made, we will learn the scope of this entire scheme that affects those who were President Pedro Sánchez's right-hand men in recent years.