Guardia Civil uncovers €112.8m Tubos Reunidos bailout network involving PSOE and PNV figures
The Unidad Central Operativa (UCO) has detailed how a trio connected to the PSOE and PNV allegedly secured a €112.8 million state loan for Tubos Reunidos and later a €10 million debt deferral, collecting nearly €250,000 in commissions.
The €112.8 million bailout
The Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI) approved a €112.8 million loan to the Basque steel-tube manufacturer Tubos Reunidos in July 2021, using the FASEE solvency fund. The decision followed weeks of manoeuvring by a network that included former SEPI president Vicente Fernández, PSOE operative Leire Díez, and businessman Antxon Alonso, whom the UCO identifies as a business partner of former PSOE organisation secretary Santos Cerdán.
Sara Aagesen, then Secretary of State for Energy, initially opposed the rescue "for ecological reasons", according to an internal meeting note cited in the UCO report. Fernández relayed that rejection to Alonso, stating that "the company would find it difficult to receive SEPI financing without help from the very top". Alonso mobilised contacts in the Partido Nacionalista Vasco (PNV), and within weeks Aagesen agreed to the loan.
- Fernández, Díez and Alonso begin working behind the scenes on Tubos Reunidos’ rescue bid
- SEPI’s FASEE council meets; Aagesen voices opposition for ecological reasons
- Fernández warns that approval needs ‘help from the very top’ and activates PNV contacts
- Fernández tells Alonso: ‘You talk to them on Tuesday and it gets approved the following Tuesday’
- SEPI approves the €112.8 million loan to Tubos Reunidos
- Tubos Reunidos sells a Sestao plant for €15.2 million, triggering a €9.9 million mandatory repayment
- Leire Díez contacts vice-lehendakari Mikel Torres to arrange a meeting with Tubos Reunidos
- Meeting at PSOE headquarters on Ferraz: Cerdán, Díez, Fernández and two Tubos Reunidos executives
- SEPI agrees to defer the €9.9 million early repayment obligation
The Hirurok network and its commissions
The trio operated through a WhatsApp chat called Hirurok (Basque for "us three"). The UCO report describes how they funnelled sensitive SEPI information to Tubos Reunidos and deployed political pressure. One message from Fernández to Alonso reads: "You talk to them on Tuesday [with the PNV] and it gets approved the following Tuesday."
The network received monthly payments from the company totalling €247,459, channelled in part through Mediaciones Martínez, a firm 98.3% owned by Alonso. The payments covered both the 2021 bailout and subsequent interventions.
2024 debt deferral and the Ferraz meeting
In July 2024 Tubos Reunidos sold a plant in Sestao for €15.2 million and was obliged to pay €9.9 million toward the SEPI loan by July 2025. After direct negotiations with SEPI failed, the company turned again to the Hirurok group. Leire Díez contacted Mikel Torres, vice-lehendakari and leader of the PSE-EE in Biscay, seeking a meeting. On 13 November 2024, Cerdán received two Tubos Reunidos executives in his office at PSOE headquarters on Ferraz, attended also by Díez and Fernández. The meeting aimed to secure a deferral of the mandatory early repayment. Four months later, SEPI agreed to postpone the payment.
The UCO located 1,288 WhatsApp messages between Díez and Torres between 2020 and 2025, but the police report does not present evidence that Torres himself performed any irregular act for the company. Around the same time, Fernández told Díez that a discreet meeting would "empower" them.
Wider corruption investigations
The Hirurok group is also implicated in other schemes uncovered in the investigation. They obtained a contract from the public company Mercasa by producing a inflated maintenance report that added €700,000 to the budget without justification. The network attempted to broker a deal for Acciona to acquire waste-treatment assets from Enusa via a usufruct arrangement to sidestep competitors. Further probes involve waste-management firm Erri Berri and energy group Forestalia. The Fiscalía Anticorrupción has thus far listed 19 individuals under investigation in the case.
