The Guardia Civil arrested this Wednesday the former PSOE militant Leire Díez and the former Chairman of SEPI, Mr. Vicente Fernández, for alleged irregularities in public procurement, according to what was confirmed by sources in the case. The arrests were carried out by order of the Central Court of Instruction number 6, which is headed by the magistrate Antonio Piña, in a case which is under the secrecy of summary in which the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office is taking part. The operation remains open, with no official details on the exact scope of the investigation.
Díez, after her arrest, was kept in custody in the dungeons of the headquarters of the Civil Guard in Tres Cantos, according to the same sources. The former socialist militant is thus involved in a new judicial proceeding while she maintains another case in progress for alleged crimes of influence peddling and bribery, instructed by the Court of Instruction number 9 of Madrid.
The role attributed to Díez in an alleged scheme of favors and leaks
Judge Arturo Zamarriego questioned Díez last November 11, when the investigated defended her innocence against accusations of having offered favors in exchange for information about members of the Civil Guard and the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. The instructor maintains, however, that the ex-militant and former socialist councilor “leads” a “criminal, continued and coordinated action” together with the businessman Javier Pérez Dolset and the journalist Pere Rusiñol, also investigated. The objective, according to the order, would have been to “gather compromising or irregular information” to “annul or misuse” investigations in “relevant cases affecting politicians and businessmen”.
During her statement on November 17th, Ms. Díez assured that she held two meetings with Santos Cerdán, former Secretary of Organization of the PSOE, although she stressed that she went to them “as a journalist” and denied any link with the party or the offer of favors. The accused also went over her professional career, recalling that in 2018 she joined Enusa, a state-owned company integrated in SEPI, as a “communications technician” after a “previous selection process”. She remained there until 2021, when she requested a leave of absence to take up a post at Correos as Head of Institutional Relations.
Fernandez’s legal situation: recent acquittal and Servinabar payments
Vicente Fernández Guerrero, SEPI’s Chairman between 2018 and 2019, resigned from his post after his indictment in the Aznalcóllar case, in which he was finally acquitted last week together with 15 other defendants by the Provincial Court of Seville as it considered that “there are no indications of the crimes attributed and that it has been an unfounded accusation”. Fernandez denied in trial having given any “instruction or recommendation” to the officials who evaluated the award of the mine.
Despite this acquittal, his name reappeared in July when the PP summoned him to the Senate investigation commission on the Koldo case, in relation to the company Servinabar, linked to Santos Cerdán and the businessman Antxon Alonso. Fernandez invoked his right not to testify, citing his procedural situation. The senators asked about the payments he received from the company and about his possible contacts with Díez, Cerdán, José Luis Ábalos or Koldo García.
According to the documentation sent to the Supreme Court by the Regional Treasury of Navarre, Fernandez received 68,632.48 euros in 2021 and 33,251 euros in 2023 from Servinabar, in addition to withholdings for 40,800 euros in 2022. These financial movements are part of the analysis carried out by the investigators in the framework of the case for the alleged commissions in public works.
