The corruption plot for which the former socialist activist was arrested on Wednesday along with Vicente Fernández Guerrero, former president of the SEPI (State Society of Industrial Participations); yy friend of Santos Cerdán, former Secretary of Organization of the PSOE, revolves around his influence in five operations in which aid and contracts worth 132 million euros were granted, according to legal sources. The three appeared this Saturday before Judge Antonio Piña, head of the Central Court of Instruction 6, for a case that is kept under summary secrecy and that focuses on crimes of prevarication, embezzlement, influence peddling and criminal organization. Piña has released them with the application of precautionary measures (withdrawal of passport, prohibition of leaving the country and appearances every 15 days), according to legal sources.
Since the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office did not request entry into provisional prison and since there were no more parties present, since the case is secret, the magistrate could not decree the imprisonment of the suspects, according to legal sources. Judge Piña has agreed to the precautionary measures that the public ministry had requested. At around 1:40 p.m., Leire Díez left the National Court on her own, covering her face with a hood, and left the place by taxi.
Piña has assumed the direction of this investigation related to public procurement, on which the Prosecutor’s Office had already been working for some time. According to legal sources, the focus remains on five operations suspected of rigging (aid and awards granted totaling an approximate value of 132 million euros and in which they supposedly influenced, and in exchange for which they obtained an alleged economic consideration). Among the companies splashed are Mercasa; Enusa; Principality of Asturias Business Park (PEPA); Sepides, attached to the SEPI; Servinabar; Forestalia, a renewable energy company that owns the Arapellet company, which received 17.3 million through the Productive Industrial Investment Support Fund (Faiip); and Tubos Reunidos, for which the SEPI (which had the mandatory support of the Council of Ministers). Those involved used a WhatsApp group called Hirurok (which would mean “the three of us” in Basque), according to police sources.
The magistrate planned that the three detainees would be placed at his disposal starting at 10:00 this Saturday. The Civil Guard, which had kept them in custody since Wednesday, transferred them early this morning to the National Court, where they arrived at 8:30. According to legal sources, Díez and Alonso have taken advantage of their right not to testify. Fernández Guerrero has answered questions and denied irregularities, according to these sources.
As it is kept secret, the details of this new summary are only becoming known in dribs and drabs. According to sources close to the investigation, the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the armed institute believes that the suspects are part of an alleged corruption plot that began to operate after the arrival of the PSOE to La Moncloa following Pedro Sánchez’s motion of censure against Mariano Rajoy (PP), in mid-2018. Then, Fernández assumed command of the SEPI and Díez was appointed head of Communication at Enusa, the public uranium company, which was chaired by a leader close to José Luis Ábalos, José Vicente Berlanga, who is also kept under suspicion.
According to legal sources, the armed institute has several suspicious operations under scrutiny that took place at least between 2021 and 2023; and which translated into invoiced amounts that, according to the agents, would correspond to alleged commissions. This Saturday, Fernández Guerrero was asked about contracts and about Servinabar, for which he also worked as an external advisor. Leire Díez’s defense sources have alleged that she took advantage of her right not to testify because, as the case is kept secret, she does not know what she is accused of; but they have added that they do not rule out doing so in the future, once they have access to the content of the summary.
Legal sources detailed on Thursday that 19 searches had already been carried out in various provinces of Spain. Among other points, the UCO went to an apartment on Diego de León Street in Madrid, where Díez held meetings with businessmen; to a law firm in Seville; and to the headquarters of Servinabar. The agents also appeared at the offices of Forestalia, a renewable energy company. And the Civil Guard went to collect information at the offices of, among other institutions, the SEPI itself; Enusa; Correos (where Díez was director of Philately and Institutional Relations after her time at Enusa); the public company Mercasa; the State Society for Industrial Promotion and Business Development (Sepides); and the General Directorate of Energy Policy and Mines, belonging to the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
The judicial investigation against this new plot is in an “initial” phase, according to other legal sources, which emphasize that there are still investigations ahead.
