Santos Cerdán

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Santos Cerdán
Member of the Congress of Deputies
In office
21 May 2019 – 16 June 2025
Succeeded byIván Cacho
ConstituencyNavarre
Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
In office
13 July 2021 – 12 June 2025
Preceded byJosé Luis Ábalos
Succeeded byRebeca Torró
Personal details
Born (1969-05-04) 4 May 1969 (age 56)
Milagro, Navarre, Spain
Political partyIndependent (since 2025)
Other political
affiliations		Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (1999–2025)
OccupationPolitician

Santos Cerdán León (born 4 May 1969) is a Spanish former politician. A long-time figure in the PSOE, he served as its Secretary of Organisation from 2021. From 2014 to 2017, he was a member of the Parliament of Navarre, and from 2019 to 2025 he was a member of the Congress of Deputies.[1][2] Cerdán resigned from both positions, and left the PSOE, after being implicated in the Koldo Case in 2025.

Early life

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Coming from a militant socialist family background, Cerdán took studies at the second stage of professional development, getting a degree as a technician in industrial electronics. He started his professional career in the food and agricultural sectors.

Political career

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Cerdán joined the PSOE in 1999 and has been a member of the regional Socialist Party of Navarre since 2004. He was a councillor in Navarre from 1999 to 2003 and again from 2007 until 2015.

He entered the Parliament of Navarre in 2014, replacing Román Felones, and was re-elected in the 2015 election. Cerdán did not join national politics until Pedro Sánchez nominated him at the 2017 congress for election as Secretary-General against Susana Díaz and Patxi López. He was elected to the Congress of Deputies for Navarre at the April 2019 election, which was won by the PSOE. He was re-elected in November that year.

In 2020, Cerdán was elected as the head of the Pablo Iglesias Foundation, a socialist cultural institution. In 2021, Cerdán was elected Secretary-General of the PSOE, replacing José Luis Ábalos. He was replaced as head of the Pablo Iglesias Foundation in 2022 by María Luisa Carcedo.[3]

After the 2023 election, Sánchez charged Cerdán with negotiating with Junts per Catalunya during the extended government formation, for votes that the PSOE needed to form a government. Cerdán met with Carles Puigdemont, at that time exiled from Spain, in Brussels, during which he was described as the PSOE's "number three".[4]

Koldo Case

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Main article: Koldo Case

On 30 April 2024, Cerdán faced the committee investigating the Koldo Case, having brought Koldo García, who was being investigated in the case, into the PSOE's top circles. Cerdán admitted to having eben in regular contact with García but denied knowing about questionable purchases of masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, which had prompted the investigation.[5]

On 28 May 2025, El Confidencial released a recording in which Leire Díez Castro, a left-wing journalist and close friend of Cerdán,[6] said: "This is Pedro Sánchez live with Cerdán - with Santos Cerdán - and with Leire. And there are very few other people who have this information, and that's how it's going to stay."[7]

On 12 June 2025, a report on the case was published by the Central Operative Unit of the Guardía Civil. This revealed that Cerdán had handed out contracts for public works projects throughout the country to friendly businesses, and gave more than €600,000 in bribes in exchange. Guardía Civil investigators had found the details on a hard drive at Ábalos' home, and described Cerdán as heading up a possibly criminal organisation, proposing that money may have been handed to parties outside the PSOE as well as inside it, raising questions of illegal financing.[8] The Central Operative Unit report also alleged that Koldo asked Cerdán to employ another girlfriend in an affair, Nicole Neacsu, within Emfesa, linked to ADIF. Evidence also suggested that Pedro Sánchez himself may have found out, and known for some time, what Ábalos and Koldo were doing and its potential illegality.[9] Two days later, Cerdán left the PSOE and resigned his seat in the Congress of Deputies.[10]

On 30 June 2025, Cerdán was sent to prison for refusing to answer questions in court about the case, with judge Leopoldo Puente believing there was a risk of Cerdán escaping justice.[11] Cerdán submitted an appeal some weeks later, yet it was refused by the courts for fear of its potential impact on the investigation.[12]

On 6 October, it was revealed that Cerdán had collected suspicious cash payments in PSOE-branded envelopes after replacing Ábalos as Secretary-General of the PSOE in 2021. Cerdán had continued to take cash payments even after the scandal had come to light.[13] In response, Cerdán questioned how the opposition PP had known the report's contents before its submission to the Supreme Court.[14]

References

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  1. ^ "Cerdán León, Santos" (in Spanish). Congress of Deputies.
  2. ^ "Cerdán León, Santos" (in Spanish). Parliament of Navarre.
  3. ^ "Miembros del patronato de la FPI". Fundación Pablo Iglesias (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  4. ^ Pardo Torregrosa, Iñaki (30 October 2023). "El número 3 del PSOE, Santos Cerdán, se reúne con Puigdemont en Bruselas para escenificar la negociación". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  5. ^ Rodríguez, Miguel Ángel (30 April 2024). "Santos Cerdán, sobre Koldo: 'Ni fue conductor ni amigo íntimo de Sánchez'" [Santos Cerdán on Koldo: "He was never a conductor nor intimate friend of Sánchez"]. El Periódico de Catalunya (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  6. ^ Olmo, José María; Torrico, Ernesto (28 May 2025). "Las cloacas del PSOE querían destruir al fiscal del 3% de Convergencia: "Con más ruido, mejor"". El Confidencial (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  7. ^ Urrietzteta, Esteban (27 May 2025). "La 'fontanera' del PSOE se vio con el mando imputado en el 'caso Koldo' y le ofreció un ascenso: "Los de arriba en el Gobierno necesitan pruebas para atacar a la UCO"". El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  8. ^ Marraco, Manuel; Peñalosa, Gema (12 June 2025). "La investigación de la Guardia Civil apunta a la financiación ilegal del PSOE: "La Gerencia te va a pedir el impuesto"". El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 June 2025.
  9. ^ Calabrés, Jorge; Vilches, Sandra (13 June 2025). "La UCO aporta más indicios de que Sánchez tapó durante años la "organización criminal" de Ábalos y Santos Cerdán". El Español (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 June 2025.
  10. ^ Lardiez, Adrián. "Santos Cerdán dimite de sus cargos del PSOE y entrega el acta de diputado". Democrata (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  11. ^ Jamardo, María (30 June 2025). "El Supremo ordena prisión provisional comunicada y sin fianza para Santos Cerdán". El Debate (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  12. ^ "El Supremo confirma la prisión provisional para Cerdán por su "papel directivo" en los presuntos amaños de obra". Europa Press. 23 July 2025. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  13. ^ Lamet, Juanma (6 October 2025). "Cerdán recibió 21 pagos en efectivo del PSOE tras sustituir a Ábalos y siguió cobrando sobres tras estallar el 'caso Koldo'" [Cerdán received 21 cash payments from the PSOE after replacing Ábalos and continued taking envelopes after the 'Koldo Case' was declared]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  14. ^ Pérez Medina, Alfonso (7 October 2025). "Cerdán pide que se investigue por qué el PP conocía el informe de la UCO antes de que se entregara al Supremo". LaSexta (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 October 2025.