In June 2025, Spain witnessed a new wave of scandal over the financial transparency of one of the country’s largest political parties. After the publication of a report naming senior PSOE members, including the former organizational secretary, the party decided to conduct an independent review of its finances. As a result, experts from the Autonomous University of Madrid presented a detailed analysis that shed light on internal processes and revealed a number of unexpected findings.
Auditors thoroughly examined all cash inflows and outflows from the party’s funds over the past seven years. According to them, all transactions were backed by bank documents, and sources of income were fully traceable. However, during the audit, several cases arose that raised questions among the specialists. These included unusually expensive lunches, bills for children’s menus, and even spending on festive dinners on days when most venues were closed.
Детали аудита
In the report, which exceeded one hundred pages, experts provided a detailed breakdown of party fund inflows. Most of the funds came from previous years’ balances and transfers from the official PSOE bank account. From 2017 to 2024, there were 39 deposits totaling nearly one million euros. More than half of that amount was recorded during the tenure of José Luis Ábalos, who oversaw party finances, with the remainder falling under his successor, Santos Cerdán.
The analysis showed that almost all funds received had a transparent origin. The only exceptions were a few small amounts related to the sale of souvenirs at public events, scrapping old equipment, and a prize won in a Christmas lottery. According to auditors, these transactions did not affect the overall picture and were fully documented.
Expenses under scrutiny
Experts paid special attention to expenses reimbursed to Abalos’s team members. During his four-year leadership of the department, the party paid out over €120,000 in cash to cover business and operational needs. The audit focused on a sample of the largest disbursements, each accompanied by a stack of receipts and invoices.
Most expenses were for restaurant bills, mainly in Madrid and Valencia, as well as travel and fuel costs. However, auditors noted that in several cases receipts were partially or entirely illegible, and in some instances, it was unclear who actually received the service. In certain cases, the amounts spent significantly exceeded state-mandated limits, especially in 2020, when a quarter of all bills surpassed the permitted threshold.
Odd discoveries
The audit uncovered some truly unusual expenses. For example, the report includes charges for children’s menus at restaurants in Madrid and Valencia, which auditors believe are unrelated to party operations. One notable instance is the payment for a nine-person lunch at a Valencia restaurant on Christmas Day, when most establishments are closed. In some cases, several receipts from the same restaurant were submitted for the same day, leaving experts puzzled.
When analyzing the expenses, auditors compared them with official limits set for public officials. In most years, exceeding these limits was rare, but in 2020, expensive receipts became noticeably more common. In certain cases, the cost of lunch per person reached 200 euros, and some total bills exceeded 400 euros, with little clarity about how many people were covered by these charges.
Party response
The party has already begun reviewing contested expenses. PSOE leadership plans to match the submitted receipts with the work schedules of members of Ábalos’s team to determine whether these costs were in fact work-related. For now, the party emphasizes that no evidence of illegal financing has been found, and all identified anomalies are isolated cases that do not affect the overall transparency of financial flows.
Nevertheless, scrutiny of the party’s spending and internal processes remains high. Judicial authorities continue to examine the submitted documents, while the public is closely following the developments, anticipating further details.
