PSOE network case implicates five senior public-sector officials
Judge Pedraz implicates 25 people, including the president of Sepi and four other serving officials, for embezzlement and trading in influence.
Five serving public officials implicated in PSOE network linked to Santos Cerdán
The National Court judge Santiago Pedraz implicated 25 people on Monday as part of the network organised by PSOE Organisation Secretary Santos Cerdán. According to El Mundo, among those under investigation are around a dozen public employees, five of them senior officials still in post. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office attributes to them indications of embezzlement, misconduct in public office, trading in influence, disclosure of privileged information and criminal organisation.
The implication calls into question the management of the State Company for Industrial Holdings (Sepi) and other institutions such as Isdefe and the administrative tribunal that resolves public procurement appeals.
The president of Sepi, investigated over the Tubos Reunidos rescue
Belén Gualda, president of Sepi since 2021 and promoted to the position by then Finance Minister María Jesús Montero, is being investigated for her role in the state rescue of Tubos Reunidos worth 112.8 million euros. According to the UCO report, Gualda committed to Francisco Irazusta, then president of Tubos Reunidos, to approve the operation despite initial reservations from the Ministry of Economy and from current third deputy prime minister Sara Aagesen. The Prosecutor's Office points out that the rescue may have been decided with "political pressure" and with disclosure of confidential information in favour of the network.
Government sources came to Gualda's defence and ruled out her dismissal: "In the proceedings there appears no element that compromises the president of Sepi. Therefore, we maintain full confidence in her and in the excellent work she is doing leading a public company that has managed to save thousands of jobs". Sepi manages assets valued at 20,000 million euros and has stakes in Ibex companies such as Telefónica and Indra, as well as European stakes in Airbus.
The president of the contract appeals tribunal, also implicated
Conchita Ordiz, current president of the Central Administrative Court of Contract Appeals (TACRC), the body responsible for resolving disputes between companies and public administrations in matters of procurement, also appears on the list. According to the Prosecutor's Office, she may have committed offences by helping the network. In one of the intercepted messages, the head of the network and former Sepi president, Vicente Fernández, wrote: "Conchita has come through", congratulating himself on having influenced the Administration in favour of one of his clients. Ordiz, considered a protégé of Fernández, is also Spain's representative in the European network of procurement appeals tribunals.
The head of the rescue fund, investigated for alleviating Tubos Reunidos's debt
Julián Mateos Aparicio, head of the Fund for Support for the Solvency of Strategic Companies (Fasee), is responsible for overseeing the repayment of rescues granted to companies such as Plus Ultra, Tubos Reunidos and Duro Felguera. He was the one who signed the reduction of 10 million euros in Tubos Reunidos's debt to Fasee. According to the UCO, that relief was agreed in advance between executives of Tubos Reunidos and Santos Cerdán himself. Judge Pedraz's order specifies that "on 28 March 2025 the request was authorised by resolution signed by Julián Mateos-Aparicio, by delegation of President Belén Gualda". In return for these actions, Tubos Reunidos agreed to pay 40,000 euros—excluding VAT—to the also-investigated Vicente Fernández.
Other serving senior officials implicated
Rosario Arévalo, Corporate Director of Enusa, has entered the Prosecutor's Office's list due to her contacts with Vicente Fernández in the context of a business operation in Melilla. Mayte Castillo, Director of Corporate Development and Strategy at Isdefe—a public company offering consultancy and engineering services under the Defence Ministry and a key player in the current increase in military spending—is implicated for her previous role at Mercasa, where she would have provided internal information to the network for a property operation.
Rosario Martínez Manzanedo, general secretary of the Sepi Foundation, continues in post despite her implication. In her role as Director of Holdings at Sepi, she was Fernández's trusted associate and brought before the Management Council presided over by Gualda the file on the Tubos Reunidos rescue.
Other investigated parties and the network's common scheme
The already-resigned Comptroller General of the Andalusian Regional Government, Miguel Ángel Figueroa, would have passed privileged information to the network. Other public employees from Sepides likewise collaborated with the network. Also featured in the case are two former presidents of public companies: José Vicente Berlanga (Enusa) and José Ramón Sempere (Mercasa), as well as executives linked to private companies such as Forestalia and Acciona.
The investigation reviews five Sepi operations in which the so-called "plumber", former Sepi president Vicente Fernández and businessman Antxon Alonso, a friend of Santos Cerdán, would have been involved. The three coordinated their activities in a chat they called Hirurok—"the three of us" in Basque—and would have received commissions in each of the operations. This case is the same one from which the investigation into the so-called Ferraz sewers derives.
From the analysis of the set of operations, the prosecutors conclude that there exists "a common scheme" in the network's conduct across all of them.
Source: El Mundo