Resistance manual. Cartoon of 14/06/2025 in CTXT
The report of the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Guardia Civil on Santos Cerdán León, drawn up in June 2025 within the Ábalos case, points to him as a key figure in an alleged scheme of irregular awards and illegal commissions linked to the Ministry of Transport during the management of Joseé Luis Ábalos.
The man who until a few days ago was the PSOE' s number three and Secretary of Organisation has resigned after several recordings intercepted by the Central Operative Unit (UCO) implicated him in the alleged collection of commissions in the awarding of public works contracts. The quintessential classic among corruption offences.
On 11 June 2025, this UCO report of some 490 pages relating Cerdán to the collection of commissions appeared in the hands of the Supreme Court judge in charge of the "Koldo case". Cerdán insists on his innocence and assures that he is not worried about the police searches of Ábalos' house. The party continues to support its Secretary of Organisation and several socialist ministers express their confidence in Cerdán's innocence.
On 12 June, Santos Cerdán resigned as Secretary of Organisation of the PSOE and announced that he would leave his seat in Parliament. The Supreme Court had already found "consistent evidence" of bribery in the awarding of public works contracts and offered him to testify voluntarily.
The UCO report, according to RTVE, points to the socialist number three as the manager of the "amount and the payments" of the commissions, while it also mentions the possible rigging of the PSOE primaries in 2014, among other issues.
Shortly afterwards, the President of the Government appeared from Ferraz, confessed to being "disappointed" and asked for"forgiveness from the public" for trusting Santos Cerdán. "I should not have done it", "I, until this morning, was convinced of Santos Cerdán's integrity", he said.
The explanations are insufficient for the government's partners, who are calling for a "purge of responsibilities", while the PP demands "explanations, resignations and elections", although they rule out a motion of censure.
According to La Marea, the UCO investigation reveals a business and institutional architecture designed to condition public tenders and channel commissions for the benefit of political intermediaries. According to the UCO, Acciona paid up to €620,000 in commissions linked to five projects co-financed with European funds between 2018 and 2021, coinciding with José Luis Ábalos ' time at the head of the Ministry of Transport. Of these amounts, at least €450,000 was still outstanding, and Acciona was listed as the successful bidder in 75% of the works concerned. This is only a small part of what has already been published, and probably also of what is yet to come to light.
On 16 June, Acciona fired Justo Vicente Pelegrini, its head of Construction in Spain. Despite the large amounts of illegal commissions that have been reported, the infrastructure multinational claims to be unaware of the facts and announces that it will open an investigation. I laugh at Janeiro. In Acciona, corruption is something "familiar", the company has eight employees prosecuted for the"Acuamed case".
Now, we are back to reading and hearing all the clichés about corruption such as that there is no such thing as zero corruption and that the corrupt and corruptors were four guys operating on their own outside of any body and/or party.
The PSOE's dwarves are piling up. Those who came to clean up corruption are now up to their eyebrows in classic corruption, with special mention for the lowly ways of the herd of pigs that participated in it. Now, the PSOE is trying to tell us that the Popular Party is worse and that the difference is how it responds to corruption.
On Friday 20 June, the UCO enters the PSOE headquarters to clone the emails of Santos Cerdán and José Luis Ábalos. The UCO also visited the Ministry of Transport, the headquarters of Adif, and the General Directorate of Roads. The judge has authorised the cloning of their corporate emails. The Guardia Civil is looking for properties, bank accounts and products, real estate and vehicles belonging to the accused.
And the touch of humour is once again provided by the bishops, the Episcopal Conference is calling for an early election in view of the corruption cases. The most opaque, the least democratic and the most tainted organisation, with hundreds of cases of pederasty, is asking for elections...
