The all-powerful number 3 of PSOE, to prison: the alleged plot of Santos Cerdán

The judicial siege around former PSOE Organization Secretary, Santos Cerdán, is tightening more and more. On Monday, Supreme Court Judge Leopoldo Puente ordered his provisional imprisonment, communicated and without bail. This order comes moments after Santos Cerdán's statement before the judge regarding the alleged scheme of collecting commissions in exchange for public works.

The former deputy will enter Soto del Real prison in Madrid, according to LaSexta and as elcierredigital.com has confirmed. This is a penitentiary center where politicians related to economic crimes and corruption cases, such as Bárcenas or Rodrigo Rato, are usually sent.

According to the imprisonment order, which our newspaper has accessed, Cerdán's imprisonment is due to the "commission of crimes of integration into a criminal organization, bribery, and influence peddling."

The Supreme Court's order was issued minutes after the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office publicly requested provisional imprisonment for President Pedro Sánchez's former number 3. Santos Cerdán is listed as a defendant in the alleged corruption scheme of José Luis Ábalos and Koldo García. The Court is investigating the alleged rigging of public contracts in exchange for illegal commissions.

Although during Monday's interrogation, Cerdán denied his participation in said criminal organization, the Supreme Court has adopted the precautionary measure of his imprisonment due to the risk of flight and destruction of evidence. Meanwhile, the politician has also rejected that PSOE engaged in irregular financing.

According to sources present at his appearance, Cerdán has claimed that he is a victim of a "political persecution" for helping to form progressive governments. The former number 3 of PSOE has also stated that Sánchez personally tasked him with negotiating with PNV for support of the motion of no confidence that toppled Mariano Rajoy's government. He did so together with businessman Joseba Antxón Alonso, who is also implicated in the scheme.

Cerdán has also pointed to the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños. He has emphasized his negotiations with Junts to secure their support for Sánchez's latest investiture. The former deputy claims that it was Félix Bolaños who negotiated with ERC and "that's why" he will be "the next target" of this alleged political persecution.

Regarding the recordings uncovered by UCO, Santos Cerdán has argued "not to recognize himself" in them. However, the Supreme Court implies in its order that it considers these audios valid as evidence of the alleged involvement. "...the aforementioned recordings correspond to conversations that actually took place, whose content is extremely eloquent...", the judge states in his document. "Mr. Santos himself reproaches Mr. Koldo insistently that those matters are not to be discussed, they are written on a piece of paper and then destroyed...", he continues.

Who Is Santos Cerdán

Following the latest and revealing report from the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard, Santos Cerdán León (Pamplona, 1969) is the most talked-about politician. His alleged involvement and the risk that he might flee or destroy evidence have led the Supreme Court to order his entry into Soto del Real prison this very Monday on a provisional basis.

But Santos Cerdán's "popularity" has not always been marked by controversy, since until a few weeks ago he was one of PSOE's strongmen. As we already published in elcierredigital.com, the support that President Pedro Sánchez received in the 2017 primaries from Santos Cerdán, then number two of PSOE in Navarre, forged a friendship between the two that is unbreakable.

President Pedro Sánchez did not receive much support when, in the spring of 2017, he faced Susana Díaz, Felipe González, and the Spanish establishment to regain control of PSOE. One of the people who selflessly threw himself into his candidacy was Santos Cerdán, at that time Organization Secretary of PSOE. Sources close to La Moncloa told Elcierredigital.com, "one of the few people President Pedro Sánchez trusts in the political sphere."

Cerdán worked tirelessly to "scrape up votes" in his favor in local committees across the country. In Diario de Navarra he acknowledged that he learned the socialist terrain down to the last detail.

"Ten days before the primaries, I gave President Pedro Sánchez some data with a vote estimate, federation by federation. I was off by 500 votes. I told him there would be a 10% difference and that I thought he would win by 16,000 votes. And it ended up being 15,500," he recounted.

The deputy said that the victory was not "easy, we've worked very hard, and there have been difficult moments. Especially at the beginning, when President Pedro Sánchez had the logical doubt of whether to continue or not. But in the end, time and the members have proven him right."

Santos Cerdán has also been key in the reconciliation of the Navarrese left. "PSN would be comfortable in a government with Geroa Bai, I-E, and Podemos," Cerdán said in 2017. Two years later, so it was, PSOE signed an agreement to lead a Government of Navarre presided over by María Chivite, with the participation of Geroa Bai and Podemos. In 2023, Chivite renewed the government with the same partners.

Santos Cerdán completed second-level Vocational Training studies (FP-II) and is an Industrial Electronics Technician. He has developed his professional career as a maintenance and industrial technician in various companies in the agri-food sector and is currently on leave. Now, after his prominent stint at the top of PSOE, he enters provisional prison as an alleged participant in the corruption scheme surrounding the party.