Catalan president meets Spanish PM amid Socialist party corruption scandal

The Catalan president, Salvador Illa, and the Spanish PM, Pedro Sánchez, met in an unscheduled gathering in La Moncloa, Spain's government headquarters in Madrid, on Friday morning, as sources told the Catalan News Agency (ACN).

The meeting was planned last minute on Thursday afternoon as requested by the Spanish PM amid the Socialist party corruption scandal. Both leaders are major politicians of the Socialist party, and Illa used to be Sánchez's health minister during the Covid-19 pandemic, before becoming the Catalan president.

The Socialists are currently under fire for the 'Cerdán case,' a corruption scandal that started with the 'Koldo case,' a case involving alleged kickbacks from public contracts. Sánchez had apologized on Thursday last week after Santos Cerdán, one of the party's top officials and a hand-right of Sánchez, was implicated.

Pedro Sánchez has also been meeting with Catalan pro-independence parties: Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya and Junts, both parties backed the Spanish leader during his reelection as PM back in November 2023.

Spanish Guàrdia Civil police

Spain's Guàrdia Civil police entered the Socialist's party headquarters in Madrid's Ferraz street to copy the content of former party's secretary Santos Cerdán's email, as party sources confirmed on Friday.

During the prior hours to the police operation, the judge of the Spanish Supreme Court, Leopoldo Puente, had requested the PSOE to allow access to agents of the UCO unit.

The judge had also asked Spain's transport minister to allow Guàrdia Civil agents to enter the ministry building to have access to the content of the former minister, José Luis Ábalos.

What are the allegations?

Santos Cerdán was Pedro Sánchez’s right-hand man until recently. He served as a Socialist MP and the party's organization secretary.

A police report leaked to the press last week identified him as responsible for handling illegal commission payments linked to public contracts.

The report contains eight audio recordings of conversations between Cerdán, former Socialist minister José Luis Ábalos, and Ábalos’s former aide, Koldo García.

In the recordings, they allegedly discuss the payment of €620,000 in illegal commissions.

According to the report, Cerdán was in charge of "managing the alleged payments."

Less than 24 hours after the report was published, Cerdán announced his resignation, relinquishing both his seat in Congress and his position within the Socialist Party.

However, he defended his innocence: "I hope to focus on my defense and prove that I have never committed any wrongdoing."