New blow for the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. The number three of the Spanish workers' socialist worker (PSOE), Santos Cerdan, announced, Thursday, June 12, its resignation after its questioning in an alleged corruption case which has poisons the head of government for months.
A police report “Reveals the existence of concordant clues concerning the possible participation” of the secretary of the organization of the PSOE, the deputy Santos Cerdan, presumed “Complementary with ex-minister José Luis Abalos and with Koldo Garcia Izaguirre in the undue allocation of a public contract” For which he would have received money, a judge of the Supreme Court said Thursday.
Responsible for an investigation for corruption linked to the purchase of health facilities during the pandemic due to the COVVI-19 and targeting in particular the former right arm of the Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Abalos, this magistrate also looks at possible arranged attributions of public procurement.
Welcomed with cries of “Resignation, resignation!” »» By opposition deputies Thursday morning, Santos Cerdan announced in the afternoon to give up his post as elected official, as in his function within the PSOE, whose number one is the Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez.
“In order to defend the socialist party to which this country owes so much, and in order to defend this government, I decided to present my resignation from all my posts”he wrote in a press release, however ensuring “Having never committed anything illegal”. The former deputy said that he would present himself to justice on June 25, as invited by the judge of the Supreme Court, “To clarify all questions” which will be placed to him.
Published conversation recordings
His position was hardly tenable since the publication on Thursday, in the press of extracts of conversations of conversations he would have had with José Luis Abalos and one of the former advisers, Koldo Garcia, in which the three men seem to mention the payment of hidden commissions by companies in exchange for public contracts.
The resignation of Santos Cerdan occurs while the judicial investigations aimed at the Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, have multiplied in recent months.
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In addition to José Luis Abalos, his wife, Begoña Gomez, is targeted by an investigation for corruption and trafficking in influence, his brother, David, must soon be tried for influence traffic, and the general prosecutor, the highest magistrate of the prosecution, appointed on the proposal of the left government, is very close to a trial for information leaks.
The list of files that regularly make the front page of the press and poison the life of the Prime Minister, who needs the support of his extreme left allies and Catalan and Basque parties in the Assembly, is long.
“I imagine that the doubts dissipated, if someone had, around what we think is a mafia plot behind the government party and the government”reacted the leader of the first opposition party, the People's Party (PP, right), Alberto Nuñez Feijoo.
On Sunday, at the call of the PP, tens of thousands of people gathered in the center of Madrid to protest against the government of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, accusing him of corruption.
“We believe that in these cases, citizens demand from us firmness. They demand that we are absolutely clear in the fight against corruption. And today we must ask the Socialist Party for firm measures and that he dismisses Mr. Santos Cerdan ”said on Thursday, before the resignation of Santos Cerdan, the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, from the extreme left coalition Sumar.
Pedro Sanchez must speak around 5:15 p.m. at the headquarters of the PSOE, of which he is the secretary general.
Source: Lemonde