A senior official in Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialist Party quit his congressional and party posts over corruption allegations on Thursday, posing one of the biggest threats yet to the survival of Spain's fragile coalition government. Santos Cerdan, a lawmaker and number three in the Socialist Party (PSOE) hierarchy as organisational secretary, resigned after a Spanish Supreme Court judge on Thursday invited him to testify on June 25.
In a statement, Cerdan said he was resigning to dedicate his time to defending his innocence. "I've never committed any crime nor have I been complicit in one," he said. "I reiterate my innocence and trust that it will become clear after my testimony (in court)."
Judge Leopoldo Puente, who unsealed the case on Thursday, said there was "strong evidence" of Cerdan's possible involvement in the "improper awarding" of public works contracts in exchange for a price, according to a court document seen by Reuters. Such acts constitute crimes of criminal organisation and bribery, which can carry prison sentences of as much as eight years.
In a report sent to the judge seen by Reuters, police provided transcripts of recordings of Cerdan discussing suspected kickbacks with former Transport Minister Jose Luis Abalos. Cerdan "appeared to be the person in charge of taking those alleged payments," the police wrote in the report. Earlier on Thursday, Cerdan said he had no recollection of the conversation.
During a rowdy parliamentary session on Thursday, opposition lawmakers had chanted "resign, resign". With various scandals swirling around his government, Sanchez's opponents have highlighted that he hasn't taken questions from the media since the day after the blackout that affected Spain in April. "We demand from the Socialist Party explanations, resignations and elections. Today's the day, no excuses," Miguel Tellado, parliamentary spokesperson for the conservative Partido Popular said.
Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz, from the PSOE's junior coalition partner Sumar, demanded "explanations and clarifications". The judge also called for questioning Abalos and his former assistant Koldo Garcia, who was arrested last year on suspicion of taking payments to facilitate contracts for masks during the COVID pandemic. Abalos, transport minister between 2018 and 2021, last year refused to step down as a PSOE lawmaker following Garcia's arrest and said he'd sit instead with a mixed parliamentary group of independents and small parties.