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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s former right-hand man has been remanded in custody as he is investigated for crimes including bribery, deepening the pall of corruption allegations surrounding Europe’s most senior leftwing leader.
Santos Cerdán, previously the third most senior member of Sánchez’s Socialist party, was sent to pre-trial detention by a judge on Monday, less than three weeks after the government was rocked by allegations that he took kickbacks on public construction contracts.
The spectre of one of Sánchez’s closest aides heading to prison adds to pressure on the Spanish leader, who is also on the defensive internationally after refusing to agree to a new Nato spending target last week.
Speaking after a judge denied Cerdán bail and remanded him in custody on Monday, Sánchez said: “Now is the time for the justice system to determine responsibility.”
One of Sánchez’s former ministers is embroiled in the same kickback investigation as Cerdán, who is also being investigated for influence peddling and “membership of a criminal organisation”. Separate corruption or misconduct probes are under way into the prime minister’s wife, brother and attorney-general, who all deny wrongdoing.
The premier has been in power since 2018 but his current minority government is unable to pass legislation and is losing its authority in the eyes of many Spaniards as the corruption scandals mount.
Cerdán is accused of receiving kickbacks from the construction company Acciona alongside former transport minister José Luis Ábalos and aide Koldo García. The government has called them a “toxic triangle”. All three men deny wrongdoing.
Supreme court judge Leopoldo Puente wrote: “There is sufficient evidence in the case to suggest that the three suspects, accompanied and assisted by third parties, may have formed a criminal organisation aimed, in short, at improperly obtaining financial rewards for the illicit awarding of public works contracts.”
The judge said Cerdán appeared to be the ringleader of the criminal organisation and remanded him in custody because if he remained free there was an “obvious” risk that he “could hide, alter or destroy evidence relevant to this case”.
Cerdán told the court he was the victim of a “political persecution”, Spanish media reported.
Sánchez has acknowledged working “shoulder to shoulder” with Cerdán for years. The prime minister made him his chief negotiator for a controversial amnesty law for Catalan separatists — the only significant bill passed since the last election and part of a deal that enabled Sánchez to stay in power.
Cuca Gamarra, secretary-general of the opposition People’s party, said: “Sánchez is and has been prime minister thanks to Cerdán. And Cerdán has done everything he’s done thanks to Pedro Sánchez. If one falls in the courts, the other must fall, too.”
Ione Belarra, leader of Podemos, a leftwing party that formed a coalition government with Sánchez in his previous term, said: “It’s terrible for progressive people in this country to see how the [Socialist party] has taken advantage of their trust to once again raid the public coffers. The damage to democracy and the progressive majority is irreparable.”
Additional reporting by Carmen Muela
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