UCO agents entered the party’s Madrid HQ and the Corps’ own headquarters to seize documents in a probe tied to payments to fixer Leire Díez.
Judge Pedraz imputed ex-organisation chief Santos Cerdán, party manager Ana Fuentes and former Andalusian vice-president Gaspar Zarrías over the alleged slush fund.
The case examines whether the PSOE financed covert operations to gather compromising information on judges and police officers investigating the party.
Catalan republican spokesperson Gabriel Rufián said his party would demand early elections should evidence of illegal party financing emerge.
The former party militant, already detained in December 2025, said she was caught off guard by the raid and reiterated that she had never received money from the PSOE.
Commentators noted the operation came days after former PM Aznar’s call to action, sparking debate about the independence of the security forces.
At first light on Wednesday, agents of the Unidad Central Operativa (UCO) entered the PSOE’s Ferraz-street headquarters in Madrid to collect documentation related to payments made to former party militant Leire Díez. The operation, ordered by Audiencia Nacional judge Santiago Pedraz, was part of a sealed investigation into an alleged network that sought compromising information on judges, prosecutors and members of the security forces.
Simultaneously, UCO officers appeared at the Dirección General de la Guardia Civil to seize all disciplinary files opened against Corps members who had participated in probes affecting the Socialist Party. That move, confirmed by El Confidencial, was aimed at uncovering what the outlet called the “sewers of Ferraz” – a suspected internal intelligence apparatus targeting investigators. Agents also searched the homes of former PSOE organisational secretary Santos Cerdán (in Milagro, Navarra), ex‑Andalusian vice‑president Gaspar Zarrías (in Madrid and Mairena del Aljarafe), and businessman Javier Pérez Dolset (in Móstoles).
“Yesterday Aznar sounded the bugle and today we have the UCO, which has paused the Amador report to speed up the Leire case.”
Judge Pedraz formally imputed three senior Socialist figures: Santos Cerdán, party manager Ana María Fuentes, and Gaspar Zarrías. They are being investigated over whether the PSOE funnelled money to Leire Díez to unearth dirt on judicial and police targets. Pérez Dolset, already under investigation in a parallel Madrid court, was also charged. The case, known as ‘caso SEPI’, also scrutinizes former SEPI president Vicente Fernández for alleged irregularities in public contracts and aid.
Zarrías previously testified that he hired Díez for four months at €4,000 a month to hunt for a link between retired commissioner José Villarejo and the ERE corruption case, for which Zarrías himself was tried. That contract ended abruptly after El Confidencial began revealing Díez’s activities.
“It caught me by surprise. I know absolutely nothing. If I didn’t know before, imagine now.”
Leire Díez – dubbed the party’s “fontanera” (plumber) – was detained in December 2025 alongside Fernández and businessman Antxon Alonso, a close associate of Cerdán. The UCO suspects she was tasked with derailing corruption investigations encircling Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government. On Wednesday she denied ever receiving payments from the PSOE and said she was unaware of any such dealings involving Pérez Dolset.
“What beautiful irony that Pedro Sánchez is at the Vatican today, perhaps to ask for plenary indulgence for all the alleged corruption cases that splash him, surround him and corner him.”
The opposition was quick to draw a link between the operation and a speech by former Prime Minister José María Aznar, who on Monday urged “anyone who can act, let him act”. Journalist Pedro Vallín claimed the raid showed “a certain decomposition in the functioning of the state security forces”.
In Congress, ERC spokesperson Gabriel Rufián warned that proven illegal financing would trigger an immediate election demand: “We set it as a red line. If there is a firm sentence or clear evidence, we will ask that the people decide what to do with the PSOE, the country and the government.” Compromís deputy Àgueda Micó likewise called for prudence but signalled her party would break with the government if the allegations were substantiated.
“We are at a moment when you don’t know what’s true and what isn’t, what’s a campaign and what isn’t.”
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Agents of Spain’s elite Guardia Civil unit UCO swept into the national headquarters of the ruling Socialist Party and the Corps’ own command centre on Wednesday, deepening a secret judicial probe into suspected payments to fixer Leire Díez.
AI text based on reports by LaSexta, El Confidencial, europa press and other publishers. Published .