Spanish police began a search of the ruling Socialist Party’s headquarters in Madrid on May 27 as part of an investigation into alleged wrongdoing by a member of the party.
The investigation, being led by National Court judge Santiago Pedraz, revolves around allegations that Díez, a former journalist and “fixer,” was trying to discredit an officer in the Guardia Civil’s anti-corruption unit.
The May 27 raid is believed to be an attempt to discover whether there is evidence that she received payments from the Socialist Party, which is formally known as PSOE.
Diez, who has left the party, has denied any wrongdoing, while the party says her actions were of her own volition.
It was not immediately clear whether Diez had a legal representative who could comment on her behalf.
A statement issued by the National Court on May 27 said that Pedraz ordered the Guardia Civil to “confiscate diverse documentation and electronic archives in an investigation of a ring designed to destabilize judicial processes that were affecting the ruling party.”
Pedraz said he was also investigating a former Socialist politician, Santos Cerdán, as well as a former member of the regional government of Andalusia, a police officer, a business owner, and two lawyers on suspicion of bribery, making false testimony, forging commercial documents, influence peddling, and corruption.
Last year, Cerdán and former transport minister José Luis Ábalos were placed under investigation amid allegations they received kickbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic. They have denied the allegations.
The raid is the latest blow to the reputation of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his party, which has been embroiled in a number of corruption scandals in recent years.
Sánchez: ‘We Respect the Justice System’
“We respect the justice system, we will collaborate with the courts, and there is the commitment in the Socialist Party that if there are new episodes of improper behavior, we will act with the same firmness we always have,” Sánchez said at a news conference in Rome, where he is visiting Pope Leo XIV.Sánchez accepted the “seriousness” of the raid but said corruption allegations “do nothing to stain the work of this government that, with progressive parties, is working for a social and economic transformation.”
His wife, Begoña Gomez, and brother David are also being investigated over allegations of influence peddling, which they deny.
The prime minister has called the investigations into his family a “smear campaign.”
Last week, a court said it was investigating former Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in connection with airline Plus Ultra, which received a government bailout in 2021.
“Spain is the only country, out of all of the countries, that refuses to pay; they want a little bit of a free ride, but they have to pay it back to us on trade because I’m not going to let that happen,” Trump said. “It’s unfair.”