The former secretary of Organization of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, denied Wednesday “categorically” that the party has been illegally financed during his time as number three of the formation and assured that he never controlled funds from the 2017 primaries that returned Pedro Sánchez to the General Secretariat.
During his appearance in the Senate investigation committee on the so-called ‘Koldo case’, Cerdán defended the legality of that internal process and stressed that the campaign was supported by a system of micro-credits contributed by militants, later audited by the Court of Auditors. “The money came from the affiliates. I did not control a single euro of that money”, he affirmed.
“They are not interested in the truth, but in mounting a narrative.”
To questions from senators, Cerdán insisted that the financing of the primaries is “accredited” and reproached the opposition for questioning the process for political reasons. “In the Court of Auditors has already been accredited how it was financed, with ‘crowdfunding’. But since they are not interested in the truth, but in creating a story…”, he pointed out.
The former Socialist deputy also denied any relation with the alleged corruption scheme at the Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI), for which the former Socialist militant Leire Díez, the former president of the organization Vicente Fernández and the businessman Antxon Alonso were arrested. “No relation. If it had had something to do with it, something would have already appeared”, he said.
Servinabar and the Belate tunnel
Cerdán also rejected the accusations linking him to the company Servinabar, pointed out in the judicial investigation as a key piece to channel alleged commissions for public works awards. He denied being a partner of Antxon Alonso, having had a shareholding or having placed family members or public officials in the company. “That is a lie,” he said.
In this context, he defended the awarding of the works of the Belate tunnel (Navarra), under judicial suspicion, assuring that it was a “clean” and “transparent” process, supported by technical reports. According to him, the doubts respond to a “continuous media manipulation”.
Commissions and legal defense
The former socialist leader also described as “false” the accusation of the businessman Víctor de Aldama, who claimed to have given him a commission of 15,000 euros in a bar near the PSOE headquarters in Ferraz. “I have never been with that gentleman”, he affirmed.
Finally, he denied that the PSOE or any company is paying his legal defense. “It is paid by Santos Cerdán,” he stressed before the commission.
